re: BRPD cancels awards banquet for tomorrow night

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BATON ROUGE - Troy Lawrence Sr., a BRPD deputy chief whose police officer son was arrested last week after it was revealed he tased a handcuffed suspect, has been placed on administrative leave as the department faces a federal investigation over alleged police misconduct.

The WBRZ Investigative Unit learned Wednesday morning that Lawrence Sr. was put on leave as the department continues to investigate the actions of the Street Crimes unit. The unit was scuttled last month as the department started looking into claims of excessive force tied to Street Crimes' use of a makeshift interrogation site known as the "Brave Cave."

Multiple lawsuits allege that arrestees were physically abused and unlawfully strip-searched inside the crude facility, which appeared to be little more than an empty warehouse.

Troy Lawrence Sr. —who's been with the department more than 25 years — was previously commander of the Street Crimes unit, formerly known as the BRAVE unit.

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Project BRAVE has been designed to reduce and eliminate violent crime being committed by 190 juveniles in a small criminal "hot spot" in Baton Rouge, LA. The National Network of Safe Communities' Group Violence Reduction Strategy (GVRS) model will be implemented under the auspices of the Mayor and District Attorney to target youth ages 14-17 in zip code 70805, which has a violent crime rate 25 times the national average.

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