Editing Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana (section)

==Government==
The parish has been run by the Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government since it absorbed the powers of the City of Houma. The parish is led by President Jason Bergeron, elected in 2023. [[Louisiana House of Representatives|State Representatives]] [[Jerome Zeringue]], [[Jessica Domangue]], and [[Beryl Amedee]] represent Terrebonne Parish in the Louisiana House.

The 32nd Judicial District has five judgeships, all of which are elected [[at-large]]. In 2014, Assistant District Attorney [[Juan Pickett]] was elected as the first black judge in the parish's history. He ran unopposed as a Republican. In 2015 he switched to the Democratic Party.<ref name="copp">[http://www.dailycomet.com/news/20170819/minority-judgeship-ruling-called-long-overdue Dan Copp, "Minority judgeship ruling called long overdue"], ''[[Daily Comet]]'', August 19, 2017; accessed June 19, 2018</ref>

Earlier in 2014 the [[NAACP Legal Defense Fund]], in cooperation with local plaintiffs, filed a lawsuit against the state of Louisiana for its system of [[at-large]] voting for the five judicial positions in Terrebonne Parish. They said it violated the [[Voting Rights Act]], as it diluted minority voting power. Minority residents in the parish were unable to elect candidates of their choice. (Earlier cases that went to the US Supreme Court established that the VRA covered elected judicial positions.)<ref name="copp" />

In August 2017 the federal district court in Baton Rouge ruled that the parish's at-large voting was unconstitutional and discriminatory. US District Court Judge [[James Joseph Brady|James Brady]] found that
<blockquote>“no black candidate who has faced opposition in Terrebonne has been elected to an at-large position and black candidates have received incredibly minimal support from white voters, a pattern which has been consistent over the course of more than 20 years.”</blockquote> The parties would be working on a remedy; a minority sub-district has been proposed among five [[single-member]] districts to elect these judges. The legislature would have to pass a law establishing such a change. The state said it would appeal the decision.<ref name="copp" />

===Law enforcement===
The Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's Office is headquartered at the courthouse annex in [[Houma, Louisiana|Houma]]. It has about three hundred employees.<ref>{{cite web |title=About TPSO |url=http://tpso.net/About.aspx |publisher=Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's Office |accessdate=September 27, 2019}}</ref> The office is organized into a number of divisions including: Administration, criminal, civil, communications, corrections, and water Patrol.<ref>{{cite web |title=Water Patrol |url=http://tpso.net/Waterpatrol.aspx |publisher=Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's Office |accessdate=September 27, 2019}}</ref>

Timothy Soignet, the current sheriff, took office on July 1, 2020. Jerry Larpenter, who became sheriff for the first time in 1987, stepped down briefly in 2008, and was re-elected in 2012. He announced he would not seek re-election in October 2019.<ref>{{cite web |title=Welcome! |url=http://tpso.net/ |publisher=Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's Office |accessdate=September 27, 2019}}</ref>

In 2017, the parish and the sheriff's office settled a civil case brought against them by a local couple in 2016. The couple operated a web site dedicated to exposing corruption. An individual named on the site filed a criminal defamation complaint with the Sheriff's Office. As a result, a search warrant issued by a parish judge was executed by deputies at the home of the couple, whose computer equipment was seized. No criminal charges were ultimately brought against them. In total the couple received $200,000 in settlements from several parish entities including the Sheriff's Office.<ref>{{cite news |title=Terrebonne's Top 10 Stories of 2017 |url=https://www.houmatoday.com/news/20180103/terrebonnes-top-10-stories-of-2017 |accessdate=September 27, 2019 |publisher=Houma Today |date=January 3, 2018}}</ref>