Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft Talks California Shootings, Holiday Safety

Lafayette Police Chief Jim Craft joined Bernie and Brandon on Acadiana's Morning News to discuss yesterday's shooting in California, how local law enforcement prepares for such incidents, as well as how to stay safe when shopping during the holiday season.

Chief Craft explained that he feels local law enforcement feels more prepared for shootings after the incident at the Grand 16 and explained the training that local law enforcement has been doing now for years

I do because we’ve been through it now. The training is one of the thing that helped us in the response to our incident is that we had been training for years. We don’t expect those things to happen and hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Our agencies and our law enforcement partners in the Acadiana area train pretty hard in how to deal with active shooters and different components that go with that kind of incident. Everybody’s training kicked in and was pretty well organized for the chaos that was involved in the scene

Brandon asked how Chief Craft felt about the call for police departments to stop using military equipment

I fall on the side of the more equipment we have, the better prepared we are. We have some military Humvees, and it’s better to have that for high water situations than not. Not to mention with the number and type of firearms we have out there nowadays, we need to protect our personnel. The military has some of the best armor, so why not have local law enforcement use it? Police departments need equipment that can serve their needs in an emergency.

Chief Craft explained that results from the Love It/Lock It campaign will be released soon, and offered tips for safe holiday shopping

Park in a safe, well-lit area. Don’t overload yourself with packages and leave your purse exposed. Use the buddy system, shop in pairs or three or four people. We increase the number of personnel deployed. You might even see our mounted units in shopping centers. If you’re uncomfortable leaving a store on your own, ask an officer to watch you or to escort you to your vehicle.

Click the image to watch the full interview, which also includes Chief Craft's thoughts on police preparedness and equipment use.