The Lawrason Act grants special supervisory authority over the police department to elected police chiefs that it does not provide for appointed police chiefs. R.S. 33:404(A)(1) provides the mayor of a Lawrason Act municipality with the power “[t]o supervise and direct the administration and operation of all municipal departments, offices, and agencies, other than a police department with an elected chief of police, [. . .] All administrative staff shall be subordinate to the mayor.” Further, R.S. 33:404(A)(3) provides, the mayor with the power “to appoint and remove municipal employees, other than the employees of a police department with an elected chief of police.” Therefore, in a Lawrason Act municipality with an appointed police chief, rather than an elected police chief, the police department is the same as any other municipal department and the mayor has the duty to “supervise and direct” the department and “appoint and remove” employees.

In this case, the mayor can hire the police officer as he would any other municipal employee but must work within the confines of the budget (that is, he may need to seek board approval to amend the budget to provide for the officer’s salary, if it is not already provided for).