BATON ROUGE — Constable Terrica Williams and state Rep. C. Denise Marcelle are each touting experience as they run for the seat Williams now holds.

Williams became constable in 2019, and before then worked in the constable's office from 2009 to 2013.

"I've proven myself and I stand on proving leadership," Williams said at a forum hosted by the East Baton Rouge Parish Chamber of Commerce. "I have the experience, I have the knowledge, I have the training and I have the compassion to do the job as the constable."

Marcelle said Tuesday she understands the job more than people may know.

"I have a degree in criminal justice, so I've had the ability to work at the state Capitol to get the funding for police, I know how to make things work," Marcelle said.

Williams has been constable for the last five years and said she's satisfied with the work she's done in the department and will focus on perfecting what's in place.

"We've corrected all of the problems, so now the thing is to hire new employees, new officers so that we can have more officers on the street plus have the officers we need to keep our community safe and help us do the job they’ve been assigned to do," Williams said.

In those five years, Williams says she has managed to provide officers with new guns, tasers, and vests. She said now it's about moving forward. 

"We can take our budget that we had, since we have new equipment and just keep moving forward and updating the agency," Williams said. 

Marcelle's resume includes Metro Council, House of Representatives and her experience working in law enforcement. 

"Those are the things that I think when you compile all of those things together and you bring all of those together then you have a great leader in me," Marcelle said.

Marcelle noted multiple concerns she's heard from the community including the constable office's budget and the lack of officers. 

"I really want to address the retention of officers in the constable's office, there's been a seriously high turnover of officers so we need to find out what's causing that," Marcelle said. “I don't want to go in and do things that I think need to be done, I prefer doing an assessment." 

Williams said she's been able to consistently provide raises for her officers and will continue to put them first. 

"As of today they're up 11% and that's my goal is to continue to take care of the people who work for me and continue to take care of our community and just continue to be the city constable and be who I am," Williams said. 

The election will take place on Nov. 5th. Two other candidates were in the race; one was disqualified and one withdrew.