L.E. Career

Here, you'll learn more about BJ Bourg's law enforcement duties, training, and accomplishments.

After graduating from Delta College's Armed Security Officer Program, and upon the advice of Professor and ex-cop Frank Finane, BJ Bourg decided to pursue a career in Law Enforcement. In October of 1990, at the early age of 19, he landed a job as a dispatcher for a Louisiana Sheriff's Office. He worked in that capacity until graduating from the Police Academy in April of 1991, at which time he was transferred to the Patrol Division. He excelled in patrol work and soon became a Field Training Officer, which consisted of providing on-the-job training for new police recruits. He was a proactive cop and made hundreds of arrests for violations such as DWI, theft, burglary, simple to aggravated battery, sexual battery, drug violations, domestic violence, and an assortment of other crimes.

In February of 1993, BJ was promoted to the Criminal Investigations Division. He spent the next ten and a half years working as a detective. During this time, he conducted over 1,000 felony investigations and served as the Lead Investigator on many of his department's murder cases, garnering a 100% arrest and conviction rate on all murder cases to which he was assigned. He was promoted to Detective Sergeant and served as a Training Officer for newly promoted detectives.

BJ received extensive training in investigative-related fields and he applied that knowledge to his everyday work. Always striving for improvement and excellence, he developed new methods for processing murder scenes and compiling murder investigative files that greatly increased the investigators' effectiveness in court. Although he enjoyed much success in clearing cases by arrest, he never dwelled on his past accomplishments. He often recited his life motto to new detectives, which, as it related to investigative work, was: "Other than the benefit of experience, the past doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how many cases we've closed, or how many bad guys we've put in jail, or how much property we've recovered...we're only as good as our next case."

In August of 2003, BJ Bourg transferred to his department's Police Academy and became a fulltime instructor. He taught investigative-related subjects, report writing, interview and interrogation, courtroom testimony, defensive tactics, firearms, and various other subjects to new police recruits. He received several instructor certifications during his short tenure at the Police Academy. During that period of time, he trained nearly a hundred police cadets and recertified over a hundred veteran law enforcement officers in various aspects of the job.

In addition to his regular law enforcement duties, BJ served on many specialty units, including SWAT, Sniper Team, Explosives Search Team, and Honor Guard.

BJ Bourg's SWAT experience began with his recruitment to the Entry Team immediately upon graduating from the Police Academy with high academic and shooting scores, as well as achieving the Physical Fitness Award. He graduated from SWAT school and served as point man on many of the high-risk entries conducted by his team, including many entries into buildings occupied by felons armed with either guns or knives.

In 1996, BJ Bourg took the initiative to become the first certified sniper in his department. He purchased his own sniper rifle and ammunition and trained on a weekly basis. He remained in the dual role of entry member and lone sniper until 1998, when he became the leader of a two-man sniper unit. Within two years, the unit grew to six members. He implemented an arduous training program and trained the team on a bi-weekly basis. He also conducted several training sessions for his department's entry team and, on occasion, worked with sniper teams from his neighboring parish and police departments.

BJ successfully completed numerous sniper schools. He was named Top Shooter at the FBI Sniper School and he won individual and team contests at other schools he attended. He is well-respected among his peers for his proficiency as a sniper, as well as his ability to take new talent and develop them into top rated snipers. His physical and technical abilities, stalking skills, and proficiency in marksmanship have often drawn the attention of his peers and instructors. Although his career as a sniper has been a successful one, he remains grounded and applies his life motto to his sniper work, which is: "...I'm only as good as my next shot."

BJ was the guest Sniper Instructor for the 2001 LTPOA Conference, where he introduced his rigorous and practical training methods to snipers from many agencies throughout the state, as well as a team from Ethiopia.

In July of 2004, BJ Bourg reached the pinnacle of his law enforcement career when he became the Chief Investigator for his local District Attorney's Office. He continues to teach at the local Police Academy as a guest instructor and he serves as an advisor to his former sniper team.

BJ Bourg has had an accomplishing career and has received many awards and commendations throughout the years. However, the most rewarding part of his job has been, and continues to be, having the opportunity to help the victims of crime by bringing those who have wronged them to justice.

For a list of some of the law enforcement schools BJ Bourg has attended, click on his trigger finger below:	To view some of BJ Bourg's law enforcement photos, click on his trigger finger below:	To view photos from BJ Bourg's Sniper experiences, click on his trigger finger below: