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# A police department as easy as PhD
- URL: https://www.redeyebr.com/louisiana-police-lsu-tulane-government/
- Published: 2026-08-18T01:20:18.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-18T01:20:18.000Z
- Author: JR Ball

Any Louisiana college president—public or private—can create a fully armed police department with one signature and a $10,000 bond.

**Why it matters:** A state that professes a deep love for small, efficient government responds by making it easier to crank up a new police force than to open a bar. Only in Louisiana does "limited government" somehow produce more badges—and bureaucracy.

**The mechanism:** Louisiana Revised Statute 17:1805 lets any four-year college, public or private, commission its own sworn officers. No city council vote. No sheriff's sign-off. No public hearing.

- Commissioned officers get full arrest power on campus and in "hot pursuit" off it.
- The statute applies whether or not the campus already sits inside a city with its own police department—so a university can layer its own force directly on top of BRPD's or NOPD's jurisdiction rather than simply relying on it.
- The bond required to stand one up: $10,000—a rounding error compared to what a municipality goes through to certify a real department.

**The comparison:** Nationally, only 38% of private four-year colleges maintain sworn police departments, versus 92% of public schools, according to [federal data](https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/cle1112.pdf?ref=redeyebr.com).

- New Orleans blows past that split. Tulane, Loyola, Xavier and Dillard—all private—each run full sworn departments, arrest power included.
- Baton Rouge stacks three more on top: LSU, Southern and BRCC each patrol their own campuses, independent of BRPD.

**The bigger picture:** It's the same instinct behind Central and St. George having police chiefs with no real department to lead. Louisiana makes claiming law enforcement authority remarkably easy and resourcing it entirely optional.

**The bottom line:** A parish doesn't need more crime to end up with more badges. It just needs a president willing to sign the paperwork.