Did Louisiana police officers have to take leave to run for chief of police, especially if a coworker took leave?
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This page answers the general question as of 1998. Ask about yours and see what current Louisiana law means for your facts, with citations you can check.
Plain-English summary
A Vidalia police captain asked whether three police employees seeking election as chief of police had to take leave from qualification through the election, and whether one candidate's voluntary leave would force the others to do the same. The 1998 attorney general opinion answered both questions no.
The office said the dual-officeholding statutes addressed positions held after election or appointment, rather than preelection activity. It found no leave requirement for an active officer preparing to run for chief. It said another candidate's decision to take leave did not change that result. The opinion also told candidates to keep campaign activity from interfering with their police duties and quoted the prohibition on using public funds to urge votes for or against a candidate.
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 1998. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.
Police officers running for chief at the time
The office said these candidates were not required to take leave merely because they qualified and prepared for the election. It emphasized that campaign activity should not interfere with the officers' work.
Police departments at the time
The opinion found no rule forcing every candidate onto leave because one officer chose leave. It also read the public-funds provision as barring campaigning while on duty.
Municipal election officials at the time
The office distinguished an employee's campaign before an election from dual-officeholding questions arising after an election or appointment. Its answer concerned the preelection leave question.
Common questions
Q: Was a police officer required to take leave while running for chief?
A: The opinion said no leave was required solely to prepare for or run in that election.
Q: If one police candidate took leave, did competing officers also have to?
A: No. The office said one candidate's choice did not impose a leave requirement on the others.
Q: Did the opinion permit officers to campaign while on duty?
A: No. It warned that campaign activity must not interfere with police duties and said the cited public-funds statute prohibited campaigning while on duty.
Q: Did the dual-officeholding statutes decide the preelection leave issue?
A: The office said those statutes concerned office combinations after election or appointment and did not address preelection activity.
Background and statutory framework
The request concerned officers who were already police employees and sought the chief's office. The opinion described Louisiana's dual-officeholding rules as addressing post-election officeholding. It quoted LSA-R.S. 18:1465's ban on using public funds to urge electors to vote for or against candidates and applied it to on-duty campaigning.
Citations and references
- LSA-R.S. 18:1465 (prohibited use of public funds in campaigns)
Source
- Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
- Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/98-0317
Original opinion text
Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain; the linked PDF is authoritative.
One American Place
301 Mare Street, Suite 600
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
P.O. Box 94005
CIVIL DIVISION
TEL : (504) 342-7013
BATON ROUGE
FAX: (504) 342-2090
RICHARD P. IEYOUB
70804-9005
AI-IOR N EY GENERAL
0C~’0BER 081998
OPINION NUMBER 98-317
78 - Dual Officeholding
Captain G. Wesley Bruce
77 - Officers, Local & Municipal; Selection, Qualifications and Tenure; Vacancies
LSA-R.S. 18:1465
2032 Robert Gray Street
Vidalia, LA 71373
Active duty police officers do not have to take a leave of absence when qualifying and
preparing for election for chief of police.
Dear Captain Bruce:
In your letter of July 6, 1998, you have requested an opinion from our office regarding an upcoming election for chief of police in Vidalia, Louisiana. You advise in your letter that three current employees of the police department are running for such position.
In your letter you ask the following:
Do these employees have to take a leave of absence from the date of qualification to post election since they would be receiving governmental pay while campaigning?
If they do not have to take a leave of absence, but one chooses to do so, will the others be required to also, or do they continue to draw the taxpayers’ money while campaigning?
While LSA-R.S. 42:61 et seq., discusses the topic of dual officeholding, the statutes do not mention preelection activities. They provide certain prohibitions with regard to dual officeholding after one has been elected or appointed to an office. My research on the subject reveals no prohibitions for preelection activities and the requirement of a leave of absence while running for office. Therefore, active police officers would not be required to take a leave of absence to prepare for the election of chief of police.
With regard to your second question, there is no requirement for taking a leave of absence when another police officer running for the position does so. Any police officer running for the position or any position, should take care to prevent any campaign activities from interfering with the fulfillment of their job or office responsibilities.
LSA-R.S. 18:1465, provides the following:
§1465. Prohibited use of public funds
A. No public funds shall be used to urge any elector to vote for or against any candidate or proposition, or be appropriated to a candidate or political
Page 2
"Captain G. Wesley Bruce
OPINION NUMBER 98-317
Page -2,,,
organization. This provision shall not prohibit the use of public funds for dissemination of factual information relative to a proposition appearing on an election ballot.
B. Whoever violates any provision of this Section shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars or be imprisoned for not more than six months, or both. On a second offense or any succeeding offense, the penalty shall be a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both.
The statute clearly prohibits and provides criminal sanctions for campaigning while on duty.
Therefore, it is the opinion of this office that a leave of absence is not required when employees of the police department run for the position of chief of police, but such persons should be mindful of the general requirement prohibiting campaign activities from interfering with the job requirements of such police officers.
I trust this sufficiently addresses your concerns. If our office may be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Yours very truly,
RICHARD P. IEYOUB
ATTORNEY GENERAL
By:
CH,~RLES H. BRAUD, JR.
Assistant Attorney General
RPI:CHB:glb
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