BATON ROUGE — At its Wednesday meeting, the Metro Council approved the creation of a Police Support Specialist Program that would allow former law enforcement officials to work with the Baton Rouge Police Department. 

The program will employ retired officers part-time at $40 an hour to perform administrative duties. At the meeting, Police Chief TJ Morse made it clear that those hired as part of the program would not be hired back as police officers.

"They will have no police authority. They cannot make arrests, they cannot write tickets, anything like that," Morse said. "They will be helping in administrative functions, even helping detectives look at cold cases, all the kind of realms like that where we're lacking." 

Morse said this program is not intended to replace "looking for brand new talent," noting that the department is still recruiting for its newest academy class. 

Those employed must be approved by Human Resources and the Parish Attorney's Office and have at least 20 years of sworn law enforcement experience.

"That 20-year mark makes it where they're invested in the department," Morse said.

At the meeting, concerns arose from members of the public that, since BRPD has a perceived lack of accountability for its officers, welcoming members back into the force would only perpetuate these issues. 

While having prior disciplinary issues does not make one ineligible for the program, Morse says that the application process will involve showing the department why an officer departed in the first place, as well as an explanation of why they want to return to the department in a new capacity. A thorough interview and background check process will then follow. 

"I want to retain good talent that have left us recently, that might be leaving us shortly in the future," the chief said, citing Capt. Kevin Hines, who served in the department's homicide division and recently retired, as a prime example for the program.