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Community Involvement
Respect and Understanding through Partnerships and Involvement
Partnerships and involvement in the community are vital to the work of the City Marshal. As agents of the Court, deputies are in the neighborhoods everyday serving the citizens and businesses of Shreveport. Marshal Caldwell firmly believes fostering a good relationship with the citizens is key to having a successful and effective Marshal's Office.
As agents of the Court, the deputies are in many cases seen as the bearer of bad news when carrying out court orders. The Marshal is keenly aware that emotions can run high during difficult situations and insists that deputies treat everyone fairly and with respect while executing court orders. Creating an environment of mutual understanding and respect is the best way for all involved to handle these sometimes difficult situations.
In order to bolster that respect and understanding, the Marshal's Office is active in the community through a variety of programs and special events. As a strong advocate of education, our office has forged programs on several different levels of continuing and encouraging young people to seek their goals through staying in school and advancing their education to the highest levels possible.
Marshal’s Reading Program
Over the past six years the Marshal’s Reading Program has often participated with elementary schools in encouraging reading to young students, to promote their interests in order to become well-read and to help them realize how reading is a very important part of their young lives. Deputies travel to the local elementary schools and read to those students to stimulate their imagination and to encourage them to find out what they are missing by not picking up a good book.
College Internships
As students advance in their education, the Marshal’s office offers College Internships. This program involves the student’s participation in attending city court traffic, criminal and civil cases within the courtrooms. The program services those students who are working toward a criminal justice degree and offers a hands-on learning process both in the courtrooms and in the departments within the courthouse.
GED Programs
Sometimes, students drop out of school much too early to realize the consequences of lacking an education. Our local libraries offer GED programs for adults to encourage them to start where they left off. The city Marshal speaks to the local Library GED Programs encouraging and supporting their ideas about the importance of what they are accomplishing. And to reassure their hopes of a better future because of their triumphs is something the Marshal foresees as an important goal.
Upward Bound North and South
Carrying that program to the next level Upward Bound North and South is a program the Marshal’s Office is involved in by reaching out to the students in the ninth through twelfth grades sharing real life experiences, trying to prove to them a very important point that staying in school and seeking more education after high school can make a very big difference in their future lives mentally, morally and economically.
D.A.R.E.
The Marshal's Office teaches the Drug Abuse Resistance Education curriculum at Magnolia School of Excellence and is currently expanding to other Shreveport schools that doesn't have the D.A.R.E. program. This international program educates our children and seeks to prevent the use of controlled drugs, membership in gangs, and violent behavior. The current D.A.R.E.'s Keepin' it REAL Elementary Curriculum provides instruction that helps prevent drug use by developing basic, core skills needed for safe and responsible choices. The skills learned extend well beyond drugs to healthy and mature choices in life.
Field Trips
The Marshal’s Office has provided the educational system opportunities to bring Elementary and Junior High School Field Trips to our courthouse to see firsthand how the legal system works for misdemeanor offenders and what citizens with civil matters.
Life Skills Program
The Life Skills Program is taught at Shreveport City Court in conjunction with Ron Anderson. This is a curriculum where 17 to 24 year olds learn how to succeed in life by teaching them skills in job interviews, how to dress for success, avoiding future deterrence and maintaining a positive attitude.
Special Olympics Torch Run
The community’s safety is an important aspect of the Marshal’s Office and so is the physical health and well-being of each youngster this agency comes in contact. In that matter, the Marshal’s office is pleased to be a part of the Special Olympics working with young challenged individuals and sharing with them the idea that anything is possible.
Amnesty Program
Our Amnesty Program is another important tool the Marshal’s Office uses to help individuals who have outstanding warrants and would like to get help with recalling the warrants for their arrest. Once a year, this office makes a public announcement concerning those warrants, giving an opportunity to start fresh with rescheduling court dates or paying fines that have become past due. Our office is here to help those persons.
National Night Out & Mardi Gras Parades
Supporting the community through interaction and by sharing information with the citizens about the Shreveport City Marshal’s Office is done not just in the courtrooms but on our city streets. And it is done by having some fun participating in our National Night Out and the Mardi Gras Parades. It is just a relaxing way to let our citizens know how this office can be of help to them with any of their needs.
Re-Entry Program
There are times when those incarcerated are ready, at the time of their release, to become productive citizens and may need some assistance in learning how to prevent repeating the same mistakes made in their past. The Marshal’s Office is involved with the Re-Entry Program at Caddo Correctional Center. Speaking to those incarcerated, sharing the possible pitfalls known to happen on the outside and encouraging them to know they can be productive after their release is a point this office makes during the meetings.
Pastors on Patrol
Pastors on Patrol, is a program used by the Shreveport Police Department, also exercised by the Marshal’s Office. During court sessions, pastors from different congregations get involved with the daily routines of our office, becoming familiar with first hand law enforcement duties, safety issues concerning the public and the security needs of all who enter the Shreveport City Court.