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Candidates clash on policing and crime stats at Marksville mayoral debate
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Summary
At a KAPB-hosted debate, candidates disagreed on public-safety priorities: Rishawn Ford Williams emphasized monthly mental-health outreach and community trust, Carl Chapman urged advanced police training, and Mayor John Lemoine disputed a widely circulated crime statistic he said inflates Marksville’s rates because the parish jail records arrests from across Avoyelles Parish.
At a radio debate on Data Bytes, Marksville mayoral candidates debated how to address crime and police oversight.
Rishawn Ford Williams, a mayoral candidate and mental-health specialist, said her top public-safety initiative would be more community-focused interventions: "we need to do, like, a mental health night at least once a month with our police department, with our community, with our youth," she said, adding that improved mental-health engagement could lower crime involving people with behavioral-health needs.
Mayor John Lemoine disputed a statistic cited by panelist Andre Kubero that the city was among the most dangerous in the state. "The statistics that's wrong there is is that Marksville is the jail for the whole parish," Lemoine said, arguing that arrests made elsewhere in Avoyelles Parish are processed in the Marksville jail and therefore can appear in city-level tallies. He also described retention challenges in the local force: "It's a revolving door... they come back. They'll stay maybe a year. They get a better dollar offer somewhere else, and then they're gone."
Councilman Carl Chapman said officers need updated, advanced training to face evolving crime, including digital and social-media-linked offenses. "We need to focus some advanced training for our police department to help them be more prepared... they're fighting AI now. They're fighting cell phones now," Chapman said. On the question of a police chief, Chapman said he would seek someone with "an impeccable record" who can serve as a community liaison; he added he would consult residents before deciding whether the chief should be elected or appointed.
The exchange highlighted contrasts in emphasis: Williams prioritized preventive, community-based responses and trust-building; Chapman emphasized professional training and managerial qualifications; Lemoine emphasized data interpretation and operational constraints such as staffing and retention.
There was no formal vote or policy decision in the debate; the candidates outlined campaign plans and differences for voters to consider ahead of Election Day on May 16.
