March Police Shooting Forces Shreveport Police Chief Jim Roberts into Early Retirement

Shreveport, LA, Times ^ | 06-21-03 | Loresha Wilson

[Theodore R.]

Shreveport Police Chief Jim Roberts' announcement Friday that he will retire, effective immediately, prompted speculation about who will be the city's top law enforcement officer.

One potential candidate has confirmed intentions to apply for the position. Meantime, the police union has endorsed another candidate for the job.

[Theodore R.]

We knew a week ago that Roberts would be leaving when he said he had "no plans" to step down. We knew that the mayor of Shreveport, Democrat Keith Hightower, would abandon Roberts once the heat from the black community got too hot for him to handle. Shreveport is now majority black and overwhelmingly Democrat. The city is racially polarized. The March 15 shooting strained race relations further, when white officers shot and killed a black suspect who wielded a cell phone in a way that the officers mistook it for a gun.

The article mentions the ages of two potential replacements as chief, but does not say how old Roberts is or how much experience he has in law enforcement.