Civil Service officials have updated their response to our public records request with an additional application for the Lafayette Police Chief position.
We reported Friday that an extra 30 days has brought two more applications for Lafayette Police Chief - but still no applicants from outside Louisiana. Another application was provided to KATC on Sunday, and this applicant is from another state.
Marcus Overton is from Greenbelt, Maryland. He currently is a public safety officer for Gallaudet University in Washington D.C. He also has worked as a custom protection officer, providing security for private clients in Atlanta, as a juvenile prison guard in Dallas, and as a police officer for the McComb and Meridian police departments in Mississippi. He attended Bethel University and his application does not list a degree obtained there - and one of the requirements of the post is a college degree.
We called Overton and he told us that he did obtain a degree from the Bethel University in Tennessee; a B.S. in organizational leadership skills.
LCG officials called it a "national search," but Overton is the only person outside of Louisiana who has applied.
On Friday, we reported about the two most recent people who submitted an application by the June 17 deadline. They join five other people who have applied for the post; to read about those applications click here.
In May, after only five applications, the Lafayette Fire and Police Civil Service Board extended the application period for another 30 days at the request of the Guillory administration; the reason was so that a search firm could be hired. The Guillory administration did request an increase in the chief's salary line item, which was denied by the City Council.
The Lafayette Police Department has had five chiefs of police since January 2020.
When Josh Guillory took office, he requested that Chief Toby Aguillard resign, reportedly because of a poor relationship with Sheriff Mark Garber. Lt. Scott Morgan was appointed interim chief.
The Guillory administration then hired Chief Thomas Glover from the Dallas Police Department, and fired him 10 months later. Sgt. Wayne Griffin was appointed interim chief, but two weeks later was placed on administrative leave pending a sexual harassment investigation. He was later fired.
The current interim chief, Major Monte Potier, was appointed in October 2021.
