Katie de la Rosa

Neither the name of the Iberia Parish sheriff's deputy who was fired last year for beating a handcuffed man nor the names of the deputies present for Victor White III's reported suicide in the back of a patrol car in March have been released to the public.

​In fact, most local law enforcement agencies don't publicly release the identities of officers involved in shootings or who are accused of using excessive force. But the decision of these departments not to reveal their names isn't always protected by law or by their own department policies.

When troublesome incidents happen, Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office spokesman Maj. Ryan Turner said, Sheriff Louis Ackal asks outside agencies to investigate. Turner said the office won't release the deputies' names at the time of the incident and likely won't unless they're found to have committed some wrong.

As for last year's beating at the block party and White's death, Turner said the FBI is still investigating those cases.

"We leave it up the investigating agency to release the names," Turner said.

FBI representative Mary Beth Romig said the bureau would offer no comment on or details about any investigation.

No Louisiana law explicitly prohibits police departments from publicly revealing officers' names. Officers whose actions have warranted criminal investigations, for example, aren't likely to have their identities released during the investigations because law enforcement doesn't have to disclose "records pertaining to pending criminal litigation or to criminal litigation that is reasonably anticipated," Revised Statute 44:3 says.

That could be the case for Scott and Carencro officers and Lafayette Parish Sheriff's deputies who were allegedly involved in the death of a Scott man in March. Initial reports said Robert Minjarez died from drug-inflicted brain damage, but the recently released coroner's report shows the 31-year-old was killed from "some sort of compressional asphyxia" in what has been ruled a homicide.

A Scott police representative said she wouldn't discuss the department's policy of not releasing officer names. She instead directed all inquiries, even ones on internal matters, to state police, as they were initially conducting the investigation into Minjarez's death. The FBI has since taken over.

As for the Carencro Police Department, Assistant Police Chief Dondi Hardin said there's no certain policy in place for not naming involved officers; each case is "based on the specifics."

"It's our understanding (the death of Minjarez) is being investigated as part of a criminal matter, so of course we couldn't comment on that," Hardin said. "(Otherwise), everything is circumstantial. It just depends."

The Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office's policy isn't much different, either.

"When there is no longer an ongoing investigation, we release further information," spokesman Capt. Craig Stansbury said. "If an outside agency is investigating an incident, we consider any release of information up to that agency until they are complete with their investigation."

State police spokesman Master Trooper Brooks David, however, said the agency doesn't release the names of officers from other departments they're investigating because that decision "is entirely up to the sheriff or chief of that department."

According to statute 40:2532, the public release of "a law enforcement officer's home address, photograph, or any information that may be deemed otherwise confidential, without the express written consent of the law enforcement officer, with respect to an investigation of the law enforcement officer," is prohibited. It doesn't exempt officers' names, and neither does statute 44:3, which lists the records police departments and sheriff's offices aren't required to disclose.

Rhonda Evans, head of the criminal justice department at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, said whether a department releases the name of an officer is a "management strategy" that reflects "its focus."

"They can focus on officer protection first, which is a legitimate concern," Evans said. "By not releasing officers' name, they might think that they can't be tracked down or threatened, though that's not a really a problem we see when we release the names of other suspects in shootings."

On the other hand, the strategy of identifying officers is promoting department transparency, which Evans said is necessary to "establish long-term trust" between a police department and its community.

"The thought is if you're going to name other shooting suspects, why not the officers, too?" she said. "Not being transparent can make the public believe they put themselves above the law."

As for the Lafayette Police Department, spokesman Cpl. Paul Mouton said it follows the Bill of Rights for Law Enforcement Officers While Under Investigation. But that statute doesn't mention anything about publicly releasing officers' names.

"It is just our policy not to release the names of officers," he said.

In the 2009 Lafayette Police Department Internal Affairs booklet obtained by The Daily Advertiser, there's no guideline on releasing names, not even within the checklists and regulations for officer-involved shootings.

Officers in the July 2013, August 2013 and March 2014 police-involved shootings, the last of which was fatal, have yet to be publicly identified. Mouton, however, forwarded The Daily Advertiser's request for their names to the department's legal department.

In 2009, a federal appeals court ruled in favor of Capital City Press when it determined the Baton Rouge Police Department's Internal Affairs files aren't considered confidential under the law and are subject to disclosure through the Public Records Act. The court concluded that releasing the files serves strong public interest in transparency and doesn't jeopardize the privacy of the officers under investigation.

Last May, the California Supreme Court ruled 6-1 that law enforcement agencies must identify the names of on-duty officers involved in shootings unless there's evidence that the disclosure poses a safety threat. The decision followed a Long Beach Police Officers Association lawsuit to prevent the public identification of the officers who shot and killed an unarmed man holding a garden hose nozzle in 2010. The Los Angeles Times had requested their names through the California Public Records Act.

Overall, however, whether a department names its officers isn't necessarily right or wrong, Evans said.

"It's a judgment call," she said. "That's what it boils down to."