"I pledged to call people back, I pledged to answer their questions," White said. "I plan to do the best job I can to help our parish move forward."

ST. LANDRY PARISH, La. (KLFY) --After a 25-year career in law enforcement, Jody White said he still has a passion for helping the people of St. Landry Parish, inspiring him to take on his new role as parish councilman.

"I pledged to call people back, I pledged to answer their questions," White said. "I plan to do the best job I can to help our parish move forward."

Working at the Opelousas Police Department for the entirety of his career, White said his experience gave him the chance to help and interact with the people of his community and taught him the work ethic needed to succeed as a public servant.

Following his retirement in 2021, White said the love for his community never left, so he kept his eyes and ears open.

Through listening to the people, he saw a new opportunity.

"I heard complaints, I heard people talking, and one of the biggest complaints was public service," White said. "People want to be answered back. With my experience in public service, I said that I was going to give people an option. I'm going to give them somebody else who's been fair."

With his experience and love for the community, White was elected to be the District 1 Councilman, leading to a new set of skills to learn as he makes the transition.

"I have to learn about finances and just the proper structure in how things work to get things to work in my district and in the parish," White said. "In government we're going to look at the ordinances, look at the laws within our parish, whereas in law enforcement we actually serve the ordinances if they were being violated."

White sees these new challenges as an opportunity to grow, as he takes the team effort mentality of law enforcement and carries it into the new real of council meetings.

"It's a collaborative effort in which it's parish first, and your district of course has to be right there in line, to get everything moving up," White said. "That's the whole key word, moving forward and moving up."

And as White continues to work towards his goals for the parish over the next four years, he will also continue to serve his community by working at the OPD.

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