A Louisiana police jury is the elected body that governs most parishes in the state, acting as both the legislature and the executive for parish-level government. Roughly 41 of Louisiana’s 64 parishes still use this system, making it the most common form of parish government. Jurors pass ordinances, adopt the parish budget, levy taxes (with voter approval for most tax increases), and oversee roads, drainage, waste collection, and other local services. The name has nothing to do with courts or law enforcement; “police” here refers to the broad power to regulate public welfare.
Who Serves on a Police Jury
A police jury must have at least five members and no more than fifteen, and the jury sets its own size by ordinance within that range. Any jury that had more than fifteen members before May 13, 1974, is allowed to keep its larger size.1Louisiana House of Representatives. Chapter 3 Part A – Local Government Each juror represents a specific geographic district, and those districts must contain roughly equal populations.
Jurors are elected at the state general election and serve four-year terms.2Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 33:1221 – Election of Police Juries; Additional Members To run, a candidate must be at least eighteen, a Louisiana resident for the preceding two years, and a resident of the district for at least one year before the election.
Police jurors are part-time officials. State law caps per diem pay at fifty dollars per day of active parish business, with no compensation allowed for more than twelve meetings a month. A jury can instead vote by majority to pay members a monthly salary capped at sixteen hundred dollars, with the juror serving as president eligible for up to four hundred dollars more. Either way, each juror may receive up to four hundred dollars per month for actual expenses.3Justia Law. Louisiana Code RS 33:1233 – Compensation
How the Jury Organizes and Meets
Newly elected jurors take office on the second Monday in January following their election. They meet at the parish courthouse, take the oath, and elect a president from among themselves. The jury may also elect a vice president, though that position is optional. A simple majority of total members is a quorum.4Justia Law. Louisiana Code RS 33:1226 – Organization of Police Juries
Every meeting must be open to the public under Louisiana’s Open Meetings Law. At the beginning of each calendar year, the jury has to post written notice of all regular meetings with dates, times, and locations. For any specific meeting, the jury must give at least twenty-four hours’ written notice along with the agenda. A two-thirds vote of the members present can add items that weren’t on the published agenda.5Louisiana State University. Louisiana Open Meetings Law
A juror who knowingly participates in a meeting held in violation of the open meetings requirements faces a civil penalty of up to one hundred dollars per violation, payable personally. A suit to collect that penalty must be filed within sixty days.5Louisiana State University. Louisiana Open Meetings Law
Ordinance and Regulatory Power
The police jury functions as the parish legislature. Its enumerated powers reach roads and bridges, drainage, livestock, ferries and toll bridges, taverns, subdivision development, nuisances, building codes in unincorporated areas, and support for the parish’s poor and vulnerable residents.6Justia Law. Louisiana Code RS 33:1236 – Powers of Parish Governing Authorities Before adopting a new ordinance, the jury must give public notice so residents can weigh in.
The default maximum penalty for violating a parish ordinance is a five-hundred-dollar fine and thirty days in the parish jail, with courts also able to impose up to one hundred hours of community service. The legislature has granted higher caps to a handful of parishes; Jefferson Parish, for example, can impose fines up to one thousand dollars and six months in jail for most violations, and up to twenty-five thousand dollars for industrial property violations.7Justia Law. Louisiana Code RS 33:1243 – Maximum Penalties
Littering enforcement works differently. A parish that uses administrative adjudication for building code or zoning enforcement can extend that process to litter violations, appoint a litter abatement officer, and impose fines of up to five hundred dollars for each day the violation continues, plus up to forty hours of community service.8Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 33:1236 – Powers of Parish Governing Authorities The daily accrual matters: dumped debris left for a week can build up thousands of dollars in fines before the owner realizes there is a problem.
Budget, Taxes, and Audits
The police jury controls the parish’s finances. Louisiana’s Local Government Budget Act requires every adopted budget to be balanced, meaning proposed expenditures cannot exceed estimated funds available including beginning fund balance and anticipated revenues.9Louisiana Legislative Auditor. Local Government Budget Act FAQ
If actual revenues fall short by five percent or more, or expenditures exceed the budget by that same margin, the chief administrative officer must notify the jury in writing, and the jury is then legally obligated to adopt an amendment to rebalance the numbers. If the jury fails to adopt a budget for the next fiscal year before the current one ends, the law automatically re-appropriates fifty percent of the prior year’s budget to keep basic functions running.9Louisiana Legislative Auditor. Local Government Budget Act FAQ
Police juries have the power to levy taxes to cover parish expenses.6Justia Law. Louisiana Code RS 33:1236 – Powers of Parish Governing Authorities Property tax millage increases require approval from a majority of parish voters at an election held for that purpose.10Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Constitution Article VI Section 26 – Parish Ad Valorem Tax Sales tax proposals typically go to voters as well. The jury proposes; residents decide.
Every parish governing authority has to file an annual financial report with the Louisiana Legislative Auditor. The type of report depends on annual revenues: parishes bringing in five hundred thousand dollars or more must submit a full audit, those between two hundred thousand and just under five hundred thousand provide a review or attestation, and smaller entities submit compilations or sworn financial statements.11Louisiana Legislative Auditor. Louisiana Governmental Audit Guide Any parish that spends one million dollars or more in federal awards during a fiscal year triggers a mandatory Single Audit under federal law.12U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. Single Audits Frequently Asked Questions
To handle day-to-day financial operations, the jury appoints a Secretary-Treasurer. That person keeps official records, processes payroll, tracks revenues and expenditures, and produces the financial data the jury needs for budget decisions and Legislative Auditor reporting.
Roads, Drainage, and Other Services
Infrastructure is where most residents feel the police jury’s work. The jury builds and maintains parish roads, bridges, and drainage systems. Statutory authority is broad: constructing drainage canals and ditches, acquiring land by purchase or expropriation for public purposes, issuing bonds for drainage projects, and entering cooperative agreements with state and federal agencies for matching funds.6Justia Law. Louisiana Code RS 33:1236 – Powers of Parish Governing Authorities In rural parishes, a large share of the jury’s budget goes to clearing canals and maintaining culverts.
Road and bridge work is often funded through the Parish Transportation Fund, which distributes state money to parish governing authorities on a per capita basis across population categories.13Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes RS 48:756 – Distribution Formula Voter-approved local millages supplement that state funding.
The jury also appoints boards that govern specialized service districts: parish libraries, health units, fire protection districts, and recreation facilities. The boards handle day-to-day operations, but the jury retains authority over their formation and funding. Solid waste collection and disposal fall to the jury as well, either through contracts with private haulers or through parish-owned facilities.
Disaster response runs through the parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, whose director is appointed by the parish president. When a disaster exceeds parish capacity, the OHSEP director requests help from the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, which is the liaison to federal resources.14Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. Authorities
Redistricting After Every Census
After each federal census, the jury has six months from the official release of the data to review its district boundaries. It then adopts an ordinance either declaring the current districts equitable or establishing a new apportionment plan. New districts must follow whole election precincts, with limited exceptions.15Louisiana Secretary of State. Learn About Redistricting
Section 2 of the federal Voting Rights Act also applies. Any redrawn map must satisfy both state population-equality requirements and federal law prohibiting the dilution of minority voting power.
Federal Rules That Still Apply
Police juries operate under Louisiana law, but federal mandates for local governments apply to them too.
Under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, every state and local government entity must give people with disabilities an equal opportunity to benefit from all programs, services, and activities. That covers accessible parish buildings, reasonable modifications to policies, and effective communication through aids such as sign language interpreters or accessible forms. New construction or alterations must follow the ADA Standards for Accessible Design. A police jury cannot claim compliance is too expensive unless it can show an undue financial and administrative burden, and even then it must provide an alternative way to access the service.16ADA.gov. Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act
The Fair Labor Standards Act applies as well. Parish employees who work more than forty hours in a week must receive overtime at one and a half times their regular rate, or the jury can offer compensatory time off at the same rate. Law enforcement, fire protection, and emergency response employees can bank up to 480 hours of comp time; other parish employees can accumulate up to 240 hours.17U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 7 – State and Local Governments Under the Fair Labor Standards Act Fire and law enforcement departments also have special work-period rules that let the jury calculate overtime over longer cycles than the standard seven-day workweek.
When a Parish Moves Away From the Police Jury System
Twenty-three parishes have adopted home rule charters, which allow alternatives like a council-president structure with a separately elected executive, a council-manager arrangement with a hired professional administrator, or a consolidated city-parish government. East Baton Rouge, Orleans, Lafayette, and Terrebonne parishes consolidated city and parish government into a single entity. Caddo Parish adopted a council-manager system. Most of the parishes that still use the police jury are rural or small-town.
The practical difference between the two systems is significant. A police jury operates under Dillon’s Rule, meaning it has only the powers the state legislature has specifically granted. A home rule charter reverses that presumption: the charter government can exercise any power not explicitly prohibited by the state constitution or state law. That flexibility is the main reason larger, more complex parishes have moved to charters, while rural parishes with simpler governing needs have generally stayed with the police jury.