Could a Louisiana town police chief receive extra pay per traffic ticket or a monthly sheriff payment?

Plain-English summary

Cullen's police chief asked whether he could receive $3 to $5 for each traffic ticket written by his officers in addition to his salary. He also asked whether a parish sheriff could pay police chiefs $300 to $400 a month. The 1998 attorney general opinion found no statutory or constitutional authority for the chief to take a percentage of traffic fines. It said the chief's compensation was established by the board of aldermen by ordinance and covered all his duties.

The office could not answer the separate sheriff-payment question on the facts supplied. It added that if the sheriff's payments simply supplemented chiefs' salaries for duties they already had to perform, the same conclusion about unauthorized extra pay would apply. It invited the requester to identify municipalities allegedly paying ticket-based supplements so the office could investigate.

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 chiefs at the time

The opinion found no authority for a percentage of traffic-ticket fines and said additions to the salary set by aldermen were unlawful if not authorized under the cited ordinance-making provision.

Municipal aldermen at the time

The office described the board of aldermen as the body that established a Lawrason Act town chief's compensation by ordinance. It treated the established salary as pay for the chief's full set of duties.

Parish sheriffs at the time

The office did not resolve whether the proposed monthly payments were permissible. It said its first answer would apply if those payments were supplements for duties chiefs were already obliged to perform.

Common questions

Q: Could the Cullen chief receive a few dollars for each ticket written by his officers?
A: The opinion found no authority for a percentage of the fines collected on traffic tickets and said chief compensation had to be established by the board of aldermen.

Q: Did the opinion decide that all payments from a sheriff to town chiefs were unlawful?
A: No. It said the information supplied was insufficient for a general answer. It addressed the conditional case of payments that merely supplemented salaries for existing duties.

Q: Could the chief's salary be supplemented without the board's authorization?
A: The opinion said any addition to the established salary not authorized by the board under LSA-R.S. 33:404.1 violated the law.

Background and statutory framework

The opinion applied LSA-R.S. 33:404.1 to a Lawrason Act municipality's police-chief compensation. It distinguished the direct question about traffic-ticket payments from the sheriff-payment proposal, on which it lacked enough facts to decide generally.

Citations and references

• LSA-R.S. 33:404.1 (board of aldermen establishes chief compensation by ordinance)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/98-0348

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain; the linked PDF is authoritative.

One American Place
301 Main Street, Suite 600
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
P.O. Box 94005
CIVIL DIVISION
TEL.: (S04) 342-7013
BATON ROUGE
FAX: (S04) 342-2090

RICHARD P. IEYOUB
70804-9O05
AI-[ORN EY GENERAL

OCTOBER 0 8 ’1998

OPINION NUMBER 98-348

77 - Officers - Local & Municipal
Honorable Dexter Turner
LSA-R.S. 33:404.1

Chief of Police for the Town of Cullen A Lawrason Act municipality’s chief of police may not receive
Post Office Box 679
compensation not established by the board of aldermen.
Cullen, Louisiana 71021

Dear Chief Turner:

You have requested an Attorney General’s opinion on the following issues:

Whether the Chief of Police for a Lawrason Act municipality may be paid $3.00 to $5.00 per traffic ticket written by his officers in addition to his set salary; if not, explain how other municipalities are legally doing it;

Whether the sheriff of a parish may pay $300.00 to $400.00 per month to all the chiefs of police within that parish?

In response to your first question, no authority can be found, either statutorily or constitutionally, that authorizes the chief of police to receive a percentage of the fines collected pursuant to a traffic ticket.

The compensation of the chief of police shall be established by ordinance of the board of alderman. LSA-R.S. 33:404.1. The salary represents his compensation for all of his duties as Chief of Police for the Town of Cullen. Any addition to this set salary not authorized by the board of aldermen pursuant to LSA-R.S. 33:404.1 would be violative of the law. See, also, Attorney General Opinions 1950-52, p.135 and 1940-42, p.2271.

If, as you point out, other municipalities are supplementing the salaries of chiefs of police in this manner, please notify us of these specific allegations so that we may properly investigate the matter.

Your second concern, whether the Parish Sheriff may pay the chiefs of police within that parish a certain amount per month, cannot be addressed on the information you have provided. However, if those monies are being paid as supplements to the salaries

Page 2

Honorable Dexter Turner
OPINION NUMBER 98-348
Page ~2~

of those chiefs of police within Lawrason Act municipalities for duties they are already
under obligation to execute, the same conclusion to your first question applies here.

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

A~})RNEY G,~N ERAL
By:
L~A’RI’OS M.-FINALET, III
Assistant Attorney General

RPI:CMF:glb