Police jury

A law passed on April 6, 1807, created groups to handle the "local police and administration of their parish".

Two years after the Louisiana Purchase,[3] the newly formed legislative council divided the territory into 12 counties.

These counties proved unmanageable, and the legislature reverted to using the smaller Catholic parishes, defined in 1762 as "the farthest area that the priest could ride on horseback, within reason, to go to the outlying churches to conduct a mass once a month".

[3] The juries started with limited powers and an explicit mandate to maintain and regulate infrastructure, alcohol consumption, and slavery.

[5] Many parishes chose to transition away and drafted home rule charters, defining the structure, powers, and limits of their local government.

[4] While originally narrow in scope and only holding powers delegated by the state, modern police juries have broad authority to take actions approved by the voters.

According to the Police Jury Association of Louisiana, responsibilities include road maintenance, construction of prisons, waste disposal, bridge construction, fire protection, maintaining the courts plus other parish offices, promoting tourism, and regulating local businesses.

[4] To receive state funding, police juries are required to assign road maintenance to a centralized program to prevent conflicts of interest.

[6] Many parishes, especially those with large municipalities and suburban areas, have converted away from the system, although some parishes with large cities still use the police jury, including Bossier (Bossier City), Calcasieu (Lake Charles), Ouachita (Monroe) and Rapides (Alexandria).

With the council-manager system, voters elect a parish council, which hires a professional manager to run the day-to-day government.

Assumption Parish Police Jury
Exterior photograph of a brick government building with a prominent sign. The sign reads 402 second street East Carroll Parish Police jury Office Complex: community action agency, office of motor vehicles, section eight, veterans affairs, probation and parole, and triad.
East Carroll Parish Police Jury office complex in Lake Providence, Louisiana
Buildings in background. Sign in foreground reads St. Helena Parish Police Jury, Office of Homeland Security, Building Permits, E-911 Administrator Office with individual phone numbers and collective address.
St. Helena Parish Police Jury, maintenance department in background
The state of Louisiana divided and labelled by parish.
Map of Louisiana's 64 parishes