Deputy Chief Harold Hughes retires after 28 years as Internal Affairs head for S.O.; Was retired FBI agent when he began in 1984 with Sheriff Stephens’ 1st term

Retiring Sheriff’s Office Internal Affairs head Deputy Chief Harold Hughes in his office, with the plaques he received from Sheriff Pohlmann, one listing the names of St. Bernard sheriff’s deputies who graduated the FBI National Training Academy and the other for his years of service.

Deputy Chief Harold Hughes, who has handled the Internal Affairs duties of the St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office for 28 years, holds two plaques presented him by Sheriff James Pohlmann at a retirement ceremony.

It became a phrase Harold Hughes was known for, saying numerous times over the years in meetings with senior staff at the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office: “Tell your guys to work smart.”

As a Deputy Chief in charge of Internal Affairs, for 28 years Hughes has interviewed, checked backgrounds and evaluated applicants for the Sheriff’s Office and also investigated any citizen complaints about their treatment by sheriff’s deputies.

He said what he meant by advising officers to work smart was to “treat people they came in contact with like you would want to be treated by them.”

In other words, be courteous, don’t curse people even if they have committed crimes and don’t use excessive force in making arrests. That’s the way to stay out of trouble while still being a hard-nosed sheriff’s deputy with your eyes open for law-breakers, Hughes said.

A soft-talking, retired 25-year FBI agent who also worked for two years before that as a policeman in Columbus, Ms., in the late 1950s, Hughes is now retiring from the St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office.

What began as an intended short stay to help new Sheriff Jack A. Stephens organize his department in 1984, turned into a contract renewed each year to be head of Internal Affairs.

Stephens took office for his first term as sheriff on July 1, 1984, and Hughes was there ever since.

Sheriff Stephens didn’t run for a new term last year and Hughes is retiring under new Sheriff James Pohlmann who took office July 1.

David Welker, who recently retired as head of the FBI’s New Orleans office, will do Internal Affairs work on a contract with the Sheriff’s Office, Pohlmann said.

At a staff meeting on Aug. 23, Sheriff Pohlmann praised Hughes’ work as helping bring a higher standard of expected performance by sheriff’s deputies and rank.

“He has provided the platform to build this department,’’ the sheriff said.

In a signature action, Hughes – through his association with his former agency – helped get the FBI to accept for the first time a ranking deputy from St. Bernard into the prestigious FBI National Training Academy class in Virginia.

The first appointment from St. Bernard was Dep. Richard Bersuder in 1986.

Now, 26 years later, the Sheriff’s Office has had 17 deputies graduate from the FBI National Training Academy, including Sheriff Pohlmann, and an 18th is scheduled to go there in September, Capt. Richard Jackson.

The sheriff said he sees the number from the department as quite an accomplishment for one the size of the St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office. Nearly the entire command staff of the Sheriff’s Office is now made up of graduates from the FBI Training Academy.

Pohlmann presented Hughes with two plaques, one for his service to the Sheriff’s Office and one listing the names of St. Bernard officers who graduated from the national training academy.

Hughes said he was grateful for the honors. But he also recalled he “didn’t really want to come here in 1984.’’

He had retired in January 1984 from the FBI – where one if his investigations had included the well known Brilab case of the late 1970s through early 80s in which then-rackets figure and now deceased Carlos Marcello was convicted and sentenced to prison.

Hughes also had begun doing work for the Jefferson District Attorney’s Office, which he continued to do for 13 years while also on contract at the St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office.

His former FBI boss asked him to help the new sheriff in St. Bernard reorganize the department but he didn’t really want to do it, he said.

Sheriff Stephens, however, talked him into doing assessments of the deputies on the department in 1984 and later the sheriff asked him to stay on as head of Internal Affairs on a contract basis. That went on for the entire tenure of Stephens’ seven terms in office.

“I didn’t know much about St. Bernard’’ when he started at the Sheriff’s Office, said Hughes, who has lived in Algiers with his wife

But he said he came to appreciate and understand the close-knit atmosphere of the parish and its residents.

“I like them.”