Youngsville Mayor: Outside law firm to investigate alleged improprieties by police chief

YOUNGSVILLE, La. (KLFY) The City of Youngsville will retain an independent law firm to conduct an internal investigation into Police Chief Rickey Boudreaux for alleged violations.

Boudreaux is facing public outcry over his handling of a Nov. 2022 crash involving a now former councilwoman who may have received special treatment when she crashed her vehicle into a parked car.

In a press release sent Friday, Mayor Ken Ritter explains that the city will hire a firm outside of the Acadiana region to perform the investigation.

The latest development according to the press release, says the outside law firm suggestion was at the request of the City Attorney.

Read the letter below:

"Thursday evening the Youngsville City Council voted to open an investigation into our elected Chief of Police Rickey Boudreaux. 

Since last night’s meeting, I have received many comments and questions regarding the procedures and practices which will be employed in this investigation.

Given these multiple requests, I wanted to take this opportunity to provide an explanation as to the manner in which the investigation of Chief Boudreaux will be conducted.

First and foremost, it must be made clear that no one with any affiliation with the City of Youngsville, including myself, will have any role in this investigation. The quality of the results on this inquiry hinge on the free flow of information between the investigators and police department employees.

Anonymity for those providing information is critical to this process in order to ensure the maximum relevant information is captured by the investigators.

Based on the recommendation by legal counsel, the City Council, at the next regularly scheduled meeting will be presented with the name of multiple law firms who customarily engage and practice in the areas of labor, human resources, and public entity law.

The Council will select one of these firms to perform the investigation of Chief Boudreaux.

Our City Attorney has directed that the firms for consideration be located outside of the Acadiana region in an effort to provide confidence to the police employees and the citizens of Youngsville that this investigation will be a confidential, unbiased and a fair inquiry of the Chief’s conduct since taking office.

Subsequent to the Council’s selection of the law firm, only members of the selected firm will have access to the information secured through police employee interviews. Once the collection of information is completed, the city will receive the findings of the investigation. The Council will then need to decide if any of the findings in the report warrant additional investigation(s).

My administration is committed to ensuring this process is done fairly and without regard to any outside or undue influence.  As such, the offices of Youngsville city government are not in a position to receive calls related to this investigation.  Please hold all calls and inquiries until a firm is selected by the members of the Youngsville City Council. 

Our citizens deserve my administration’s undivided attention to facilitate and manage the day-to-day governance of the city and the countless projects before us. 

I hope this statement has brought clarity for the citizens of Youngsville as to the process we intend to employ in this investigation."

The update according to the press release, explained that matter came as a request from the City Manager.