Word is that the Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office, the Ferriday Police Department and the Vidalia Police Department have formed a joint task force to investigate felonies.
It works like this: If there is a major felony in Ferriday, the CPSO and the VPD can send investigators to the scene to, presumably, help investigate. The same is true of crimes in Vidalia and the unincorporated areas of the parish.
What makes all of this interesting is that it is reportedly Sheriff Randy Maxwell’s brainchild. For those who love conspiracy theories, this is Maxwell’s crowning moment — he now has his hands in the other two major law enforcement departments in the parish (I assume that the Ridgecrest and Clayton PD aren’t contributing any investigators, unless Ridgecrest chief Heath Edwards — who moonlights full-time at the VPD — is eventually assigned as a Vidalia investigator). In some circles, it is common thought that Vidalia Chief Tapper Hendricks is a Maxwell puppet, and now — if the theories are true — Maxwell can yank the Ferriday chain as well.
But a part of the agreement is that in Vidalia, Hendricks has authority over all of the members of the task force present and in Ferriday Hedrick will call the shots over the investigators who are called in, and the chiefs can tell the CPSO investigators and those from the other agency to leave if they feel they are not needed.
The SO already lends a hand in pretty much every murder or major robbery in the municipalities, so aside from the fact that police officers from other departments will be present in either Vidalia or Ferriday, little will change in practice.
