As many residents in the area are still dealing with flood waters, some criminals are taking advantage of their misfortune, and The Bossier Parish Sheriff's Office needs your help to stop them.

The BPSO is on the look out for any looting going on around Lake Bistineau. The area was hit pretty hard with flood damage, and many residents haven't been able to return home, leaving them susceptible to bandits.

In a press release from the BPSO, spokesman Lt. Bill Davis writes that even though not a lot of theft has happened on the Bossier Parish portion of the lake, the Sheriff's office is working diligently with Webster and and Bienville Parishes to spread the word about the looting in the hopes that certain areas may beef up any security already in place.

There have been a few reports over the past couple of days about theft/burglary of flood victims in the Lake Bistineau area. It’s truly repulsive that some people would dare to take advantage of folks who have already gone through so much, but that is unfortunately the world we live in and the reason we work tirelessly to help victims and arrest criminals.

Lake Bistineau is a very large lake and covers three parishes – Bossier, Bienville and Webster. I checked with our criminal division leadership to find out which areas of LB have been affected in Bossier Parish, and Bossier Sheriff’s Office has no indication of any rampant reports of theft in Bossier Parish concerning lake residents. If folks in Bossier Parish on the lake or anywhere in the parish are being burglarized, we want to know about it, but it’s not been an issue for Bossier Parish. The media reports I’ve seen indicate an area on the lake in Webster Parish.

Lt. Davis goes on to say that if there are burglaries, that the report needs to be specific, especially from the media, so residents of that area can be on the lookout.

Because the lake is so large, if [media outlets] could be a bit more specific of which areas of the lake have the crime spree (like reporting neighborhoods in a city, versus saying the city as a whole), it would help other residents have a better understanding of which areas are affected. We sure don’t want folks on the lake to think there is a pandemic of thefts or burglaries on the entire lake, when that is not the case.

However, if ANYONE has been a victim of a crime on LB, we surely want them to report that to the Bossier Sheriff’s Office or respective agency. While victims may think there crime is minimal and not reporting, it could surely help with other cases, considering they may be connected.

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