End of an era: Couvillon, Frith bid farewell to Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office

Sheriff Michael A. Couvillon will retire from the Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office after over 42 years of service, and Chief Deputy Colonel Kirk J Frith will retire after 40 years of service. 
Both will exit the Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office at midnight on June 30, with a combined total of 82 years of service. 
While working in law enforcement for over 40 years is a lifelong achievement for both men, it is remarkable that both served all their years at a single agency in their home parish, the Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office.
 After 20 years of being in charge, their mark on law enforcement at the Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office has been noticeable and remarkable, evidenced by a very long list of improvements with an undeniably successful and impressive record.
Both men were born and raised in Vermilion Parish, only a few miles apart (Cow Island and Forked Island), and graduated from the same high school, E. Broussard High (1974 and 1981).
In the last 60 years, Vermilion Parish has had only three Sheriffs: Euda Delcambre, Raywood LeMaire, and Michael A. Couvillion. Each of them has served 20 years as Sheriff of Vermilion Parish.
Mike started his law enforcement career as a patrol deputy in 1982 with Sheriff Euda Delcambre and was promoted to sergeant 
Narcotics Investigator under the Ray Lemaire administration, where he worked undercover for 14 years in 45 of the 64 parishes in Louisiana. In 2001, he was promoted to Major in charge of the investigative division where he supervised criminal and narcotic investigations. Mike ran for Sheriff in the 2003 election when Sheriff Ray LeMaire retired. He was elected and took office July 01, 2004.
Mike’s campaign for Sheriff in 2003 centered around the promise to improve the office of Sheriff and service to the people. He advocated the importance of teamwork coupled with a long-term plan to rebuild the office of Sheriff from the ground up. He gives credit to his staff and every deputy who has shared and contributed to the vision and multiyear process to transform the Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office into what it is today; a fully staffed, well-trained, well-equipped, very capable, and professional modern-day law enforcement agency.
“I humbly thank the people of Vermilion Parish for believing in me and allowing me to serve them as Sheriff for the last 20 years. I have always believed that great leaders became great because they were smart enough to surround themselves with knowledgeable and capable managers and people committed to the cause and mission. I credit my staff and deputies who remained loyal and committed to our mission to deliver effective and professional law enforcement with courteous service to the people of Vermilion Parish.
“When I was elected Sheriff in 2003, I attended the new Sheriff School hosted by the Louisiana Sheriff’s Association. I remember one thing from that experience that served me well over my years as Sheriff. They informed all the new Sheriffs that their most important appointment would be their Chief Deputy and to make sure we appointed someone who shared our vision and mission, but more importantly, someone we had absolute confidence and trust in.
“I made the right choice appointing Colonel Kirk J. Frith as my Chief Deputy. His commitment to the long-term mission to build a professional law enforcement agency that deputies and the public would be proud of never wavered. His loyalty to me, the office of Sheriff, the deputies, and the people we serve has been remarkable. He has been the architect working tirelessly behind the scenes paving the path for success and never seeking credit for anything other than the satisfying results of building a better Sheriff’s Office for the deputies and the people who live, work, and visit Vermilion Parish. For the last 20 years, he has held many positions simultaneously at the VPSO, including Chief Deputy and Warden of the parish jail, while overseeing patrol, corrections, marine, SWAT, insurance programs, and fiscal management of the Sheriff’s Office. He has been my go-to adviser, my confidante, and my friend. He has been an asset to the Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office for the last 20 years. I thank him for his dedicated service.”
Sheriff Couvillion talked about his 20 years of being the sheriff.
“As I reflect on my 20 years as Sheriff, it has been a very demanding job that brought both happiness and sadness from day to day due to the simple nature of the law enforcement job. To see the smile on a child’s face because you made a slight difference in their life is so gratifying and truly immeasurable. To bring much-needed resolve to a victim of a crime when we put the perpetrator in jail reinforces and solidifies why we chose this profession. On the flip side, the grief and sadness of having to bury one of your deputies, who made the ultimate sacrifice protecting and serving, affects you forever. However, like all things in life, we learn to concentrate on the good to allow us to cope with the bad.
I thank my family for the sacrifices they have made throughout my career.
“Being a law enforcement officer is very demanding in family life. I ask those law enforcement officers who are lucky enough to eventually move out of shift work into day jobs never to forget where they came from and to support those who continue to suit up and work the long nights away from the warmth of their homes and the company of their loved ones and spend their holidays away from family. Taking the time to thank a veteran, our armed forces, and first responders is always appreciated.
As I embark upon retirement, I look forward to spending time with my family and grandchildren. Besides my passion for a law enforcement career, I have always been a farmer at heart. I plan to enjoy time working on the farm, on the shooting range, outdoors hunting, and maybe even some time traveling with my boss and my strongest supporter, my lovely wife.
“As my tenure serving as Sheriff of Vermilion Parish ends, I wish incoming Sheriff-Elect Eddie Langlinais the best. I am confident that he, too, will bring about change and improvements going forward. As my administration exits, we transition to Sheriff Langlinais, a well-staffed, well-trained, well-equipped, competent, and fiscally strong law enforcement agency. May God bless all our first responders, my fellow Vermilion residents, and the new administration. “
Colonel Kirk J. Frith said, “It has been a pleasure to serve my community as a law enforcement officer for 40 years. Working under the leadership of Sheriff Raywood LeMaire for 20 years followed by Sheriff Michael A. Couvillon for another 20 years has been an honor and privilege. Serving as your Chief Deputy under the leadership of Sheriff Couvillon enabled me to be an integral part of effecting tremendous change for better law enforcement within Vermilion Parish. From day one, we had a long-term plan to rebuild the office of Sheriff. With teamwork that Sheriff Couvillon instilled under the concept of TEAM VPSO, paired with the deputies who supported and believed in building a better Sheriff’s Office and the support of the people, we have accomplished that mission. I will forever be proud of the long list of accomplishments and improvements for better law enforcement in Vermilion Parish achieved under the administration and leadership of Sheriff Michael A. Couvillon.
As for my retirement plans, my life has always been about work and service, and my hobbies have been more about work. I’ve already taken a post-retirement job and plan to offer consulting with other Sheriffs on campaigns, law enforcement management, and jail operations. At some point, I want a simple life. I need to figure out how to get there.
I’ve known incoming Sheriff-Elect, Eddie Langlinais for over 40 years. He was my supervisor and close friend when I started my career in 1984 at the Sheriff’s Office. I believe that the voters made a great choice electing Eddie as the next Sheriff of Vermilion Parish. The history page will turn as Mike and I leave the Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office. I am confident that when the history page is written on Sheriff Langlinais’s tenure, it will bring about even better law enforcement for Vermilion Parish, just like it did when the page was turned from Sheriff Euda Delcambre to Sheriff Raywood LeMaire in 1984 and from Sheriff LeMaire to Sheriff Michael A. Couvillon in 2004”.

Sheriff Michael A. Couvillon:

Philanthropy Achievements:
• Active with Boys and Girls Club, Rodney Unit, Abbeville, and has helped to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to benefit the organization.
• Active auctioneer for the last 19-plus years, raising tens of thousands of dollars for various benefits across Vermilion Parish.
• Recognized as the highest buyer at the annual 4H Livestock, helping to raise tens of thousands of dollars for youth programs.
• Started the Mike Couvillon Charitable Fund to give money to charitable organizations, schools, and youth programs. Has donated tens of thousands of dollars for worthy needs and causes across Vermilion Parish.

Awards:
• 1st Vermilion Parish Sheriff to be inducted into the Louisiana Justice Hall Of Fame.
• Vermilion Parish Achievement Day Award.
• Boys And Girls Club “From the Heart Award”.
• High Buyer Vermilion Parish 4H Livestock Youth Program.
• Louisiana Sheriff Hall Of Fame From Louisiana First Responder Christian Association, 2023
• Delta Waterfowl Vermilion Chapter Appreciation Award, 2023

The SHORT LIST OF Sheriff Michael A. Couvillon’s Accomplishments:
• Only the 2nd Sheriff of Vermilion Parish to be elected and serve as President of the Louisiana Sheriff’s Association.
• Credited with rebuilding the Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office (VPSO) to what it is today; a modern, well-equipped, well-trained, capable, and professional law enforcement agency. Under his leadership, the VPSO has undergone a major transformation and as a result, has a very long list of “first-time ever” improvements that include but are certainly not limited to and in no specific order:
• Aggressive management of tax dollars (making sure to manage and operate in the black). Fiscally responsible with your tax dollars, leaving incoming Sheriff Eddie Langlinias with a total fund balance of 18 million dollars (this includes an investment fund of 8 million dollars designed to help fund against future and rising costs of enforcement and employment operations).
• A few years ago, he secured grant money and began a multi-year plan to build a network of cameras in areas within Vermilion Parish that could read license plates to help improve crime and narcotic investigations. This multi-year plan will continue under the newly Elected Sheriff Eddie Langlinais who has plans to develop it into a “Real Time Crime Center”. Technology for crime fighting is the way forward.
• With the lead of the Vermilion Parish Police Jury, assisted in securing 5 million dollars of federal funds through Congressman Clay Higgins’s office to build a much-needed and long overdue “Safe House and Emergency Operations Facility” to be used for managing critical incidents and catastrophic events like gulf storms. This facility will open under Sheriff- Elect Eddie Langlinais’ administration.
• With the lead of the Vermilion Parish Police Jury, agreed to help seek federal and state funds to build a new “Sheriff’s Office Complex” to enable several divisions of the Sheriff’s Office to be housed in one central complex to allow for integrated operations and more accessible public access to services while freeing up current office space for other parish needs. This endeavor has been transitioned to incoming Sheriff-Elect Eddie Langlinais’ administration to continue the effort to secure funding for a new Sheriff’s Office Complex.
• Started Crime Stoppers Of Vermilion, starring Eddie Langlinais as the spoke person, profiling crimes in Vermilion Parish and enabling an anonymous way to report criminal activity to help solve crimes.
• Led the agency through the pandemic, creating much change and new ways to maintain and provide effective law enforcement while under a pandemic crisis.
• Increased enforcement personnel for added public safety presence, decreased response times, improved investigative efforts, and improved upon the overall capabilities of the VPSO.
• Instituted the use of overflow beds to house felony offenders when the parish jail is full. Gone are the days when a deputy or police officer in Vermilion Parish could not make a felony arrest because the jail was full.
• Instituted a competitive salaries and benefits program for Sheriff deputies designed to keep experience working here for you, rather than leaving for better pay and benefits.
• Began and led the move to complete a parish-wide transition for all first responder agencies in Vermilion Parish to the 700 MHZ radio system, allowing for improved radio communications and enabling the ability for different agencies to communicate on a common radio channel when managing emergencies.
• Procurement of a state-of-the-art mobile communication unit for use in onsite management of catastrophic events.
• Procured new software solutions to automate the creation, use, retrieval, and management of records in all divisions of the VPSO.
• Mandatory bulletproof vests and portable radios for all enforcement deputies.
• Instituted a car-per-man enforcement program enabling faster response times for emergency callouts.
• Standardized a mandatory firearms and weapons program to include training and adopting the Glock 9mm as the single firearm for all deputies and the AR15 long rifle for response to the threat of an active shooter.
• Kept the D.A.R.E. program and funded it completely when federal dollars dried up and other agencies were terminating it.
• GPS tracking on all enforcement vehicles and created software solutions to track roads patrolled making sure no roads are left out and increasing police presence and protection throughout the parish.
• Restructured and added more patrol zones to enable faster response times.
• Started a multi-agency Drug Task Force to share information and personnel to better fight the illegal drugs across the parish.
• Started a hurricane response and rescue team by training capable personnel and procuring high-water rescue equipment including shallow-water marine boats, an airboat, an amphibious vehicle, and military-style high-water trucks.
• Created a multi-agency dispatch software program for post-hurricane rescues that improves the management of multiple response agencies and better tracks the assignment of rescue missions, reducing redundancy and helping to save lives.
• Built a new training facility behind the parish jail and expanded training programs for all enforcement deputies. Renovated the firing range and procured a state-of-the-art use of force/firearm training simulator to train deputies better in critical incident situations.
• Partnered with the Vermilion Parish School Board and started an annual “Active Shooter” training program for all enforcement deputies, including onsite education to schools and assistance with lockdown drills, training, and education about the active shooter response.
• Partnered with the Vermilion Parish School Board and NORSE (a private sector tactical training group) in using the schools to train deputies and other police officers in active shooter and use of the old post office to develop new training curriculums to train our SWAT team and other agencies in critical incident management and tactical responses to calls for service.
• Began an aggressive sex offender watch program that includes notifying the public where they live and physical checks on the offender for continued compliance.
• Created a well-trained and fully equipped SWAT team to handle the dangerous and volatile calls for service in Vermilion Parish.
• With the cooperation and help of the Vermilion Parish Police Jury, made significant security improvements at the parish jail, including but not limited to a fenced-in perimeter protection levee, installation of control panels within offender housing units where guards can now control the housing cells onsite, remote visitation allowing families to visit from their home and remote mail correspondence whereby there is no physical mail allowed, reducing contraband entry and installed over 160 cameras throughout the jail to help monitor offender behavior.
• Continued a parish-wide litter abatement program using inmate labor to clean roadways in Vermilion Parish. Reinstituted many jail inmate work programs that were shut down because of COVID.
• Remodeled the master control dispatch room and procured new console equipment and dispatch software.
• Instituted a computer-based requisition and procurement process to improve accountability and tracking of purchases.
• With the help of the Vermilion Parish Police Jury, added a drive-through service for the public to pay property taxes, fines, and other related public services.
• Installed in-car laptops capable of using the internet to automate the creation, storage, and transfer of reports and case files to the District Attorney’s Office.
• Implemented a state-approved digital electronic records storage and retention program.
• Instituted a public webpage with links to information and service needs to help the public use the internet to access the office of the Sheriff.
• Expanded the marine division emergency marine rescue equipment.
• Instituted a water search and rescue dive team.
• Instituted a SWAT-based search and arrest warrant team for serious felony apprehensions.
• Implemented an online crime mapping program that allows the public to use our webpage link to see where certain crimes are occurring on a map and stay informed about criminal activity around their homes to help keep their families safe.