The Youngsville City Council agreed to add 10 new officers to the city’s police force.

Police Chief Rickey Boudreaux pleaded his case for the addition of ten new officers to the Youngsville Police Department. Not to his surprise, the council unanimously voted in his favor.

“This town is growing fast and the police department has failed to grow with the town” says Police Chief Rickey Boudreaux.

A study done by the International Association of Chiefs of Police suggest 2.5 officers for every thousand residents, they also say their research should not be used as a ratio for the basis on staffing.

Youngsville’s population is around 11,500, and growing rapidly.

“With 2.5 officers for every 1,000, would put us at 28 officers” says Boudreaux. But, Chief Boudreaux says he isn’t asking for 28, only the 20 that was in the department’s original budget.

“It was something that was previously budgeted and when they had budget meetings, it wasn’t being used, so they decided to slash it back to exactly what they had.”

Now that the council has approved the addition of ten new officers, Chief Boudreaux says he’ll bring them on board in phases. Boudreaux says “I will probably bring four the first time, two weeks after that there will be another four and then the last two, two weeks after those are done because we have a two week FTO class.”

Boudreaux says the additional officers are just what the city needs. “Those twenty officers will put us at a fully functional police department. It’s all about presence which is a great deterrent for crime.”