On the evening of January 12th, 2024, a deputy of the Caldwell Parish, Louisiana sheriff's department, stopped a female motorist. That was very questionable by itself because he wasn't supposed to be working that day, let alone making traffic stops or arresting people. But I digress. He radioed in the license plate correctly, but pronounced the number "one" in the plate less than clearly, causing the dispatcher to mishear "one" as "four." The detectives and office personnel talking in the dispatch office didn't help matters either, but I digress.

The dispatcher ran the misheard plate and, naturally, it returned to a completely different car. He called out the plate again, again less than clearly, and again the dispatcher misheard "one" as "four." The dispatcher repeated the plate number that she heard, clearly stating "four" but apparently he wasn't paying close enough attention and didn't correct her. From that point he assumed the car had a switched plate and treated the driver likewise.

He ran the driver's license and ran a warrant check out of the neighboring parishes. Another deputy (who actually was on shift that day) arrived and ran the VIN. The dispatcher clearly relayed the correct plate attached to the VIN, which matched the plate on the car. Apparently it still wasn't registering to him that the car did have the correct plate and that his less-than-clear pronunciation of the plate number caused the dispatcher to mishear it to begin with. He ran a warrant check on somebody else (who may have simply been passing by on the highway) and then asked for a female deputy to search the female driver.

The situation went downhill from there. He asked for the correct plate number that was supposed to be on the car (and in reality was on the car). The dispatcher had stepped out to take a break and a senior detective was running the dispatch radio, and she was confused as to what car and what plate number he was asking about. He apparently got irritated about the situation. At that time he just happened to find some Sch.2 CDS in the vehicle and arrested the driver (probably planted it in there, as credible witnesses have stated he has done in the past). Apparently he also thought talking louder into the mic would help the detective understand what he was asking for, while at the same time refusing to understand that he was the source of the confusion from the very beginning. At the end of that testy exchange he concluded that the dispatcher was the one who made the mistake. This isn't his first time passing the blame for his own mistakes onto other people and, unfortunately, certainly won't be the last.

What lessons can we learn from this? Lesson one, speak clearly, especially when it's evident that there is a miscommunication. Lesson two, listen and pay at least a tiny amount of attention.