On Tuesday night, another step was taken to get his idea one step closer to reality.

In October of this year, the people of New Iberia overwhelmingly approved a 1/2 cent sales tax to fund a city police department.

At Tuesday’s council meeting, all present members of the council voted yes, accepting Todd D’Albor as police chief.

But, it didn’t come without questions from the council, including District 2 Councilman Marlon Lewis, and District 5 Councilwoman Sherry Guidry.

Both of their districts include portions of the West End of New Iberia which has been home to gang violence.

 “If you were a general in the United States or me and you had to go in Iraq and get guns from terrorists then you have a plan of action and it’s probably going to be going there, kill them all, and take the guns. But you can’t do that in a community like the West End,” Lewis said.

 D’Albor responded and said: “That’s where the relationship we’re going to build with the community, to get information that’s necessary for our officers and our investigative teams to go across and get those guns.”

Another question was about the diversity of the department.

Guidry and Lewis addressed a need for minority officers patrolling an area that is 63% African American.

“We need to be diverse. I will encourage and I will go wherever I need to be to encourage minority candidates to come and apply for our department” D’Albor said.

Mayor Freddie DeCourt says D’albor will report to work on December 1st.