By Bonnie Culverhouse
Thursday, around 10 p.m. The City of Minden’s switch will be thrown and darkness may be the law abiding citizen’s worst enemy.
Local law enforcement intends to have eyes on the streets to prevent theft throughout the night.
“We will have triple the number of officers we normally have out Thursday night,” said Minden Police Chief Jared McIver. Normally, there are around five officers on each shift. “I will have two other shifts – between 15 and 20 officers – canvassing businesses and residences for the duration of the outage.”
The City of Minden’s plug will be pulled from the mainline at the Gilark substation following a fire early Sunday morning. AEP/SWEPCO, Entergy and City line crews will be on hand to repair and replace the damaged parts. Power could be out for 4 to 6 hours.
“That means alarms will be off, camera systems will be down and that spells opportunity for some people,” said the chief.
Webster Parish Sheriff Jason Parker said he will have deputies on standby inside the city limits.
“Whatever they (MPD) need us to do, we will be there to do it,” Parker said.
“We’ve got it covered,” McIver added.
