BATON ROUGE — An Unfiltered with Kiran investigation has uncovered that for nearly two decades, investigators in the Office of Louisiana Attorney General made arrests, executed search warrants, and carried concealed weapons — all without clear, legal authority. Now, as lawmakers fast-track a bill to give the office sweeping new policing powers, questions are surfacing about whether those past arrests were even lawful, and whether the AG’s Office is trying to quietly rewrite history through legislation.
“AG investigators have been exercising powers they were never statutorily granted,” a source with direct knowledge of the issue told UWK. UWK is withholding the source’s identity due to the sensitive legal implications. “Their self-assumed role has morphed to the point where they are operating as if they possess complete and unrestricted statewide police authority”
Legislative ‘smokescreen’?
UWK has learned that since at least 2004, the AG’s investigative division operated in a legal gray zone. Thousands of arrests may have been made by investigators, who lacked proper law enforcement credentials. The revelation comes as House Bill 303 moves through the legislature, aiming to give the AG’s Office the power to commission its own peace officers and bypass long-standing oversight by the Louisiana State Police.
The issue came into sharper focus in 2016 when the AG’s Office offered assistance to curb violent crime in the French Quarter. Attorneys for the individuals arrested questioned the legality of those arrests. A federal judge said that the AG’s investigators lacked the authority to make arrests. Following that statement, then-Attorney General Jeff Landry, now Governor, quietly disbanded the unit in 2017, and arrests by AG investigators abruptly ceased for that New Orleans task force. Despite that statement, the cases never went to trial and were settled, leaving the broader legal questions unresolved.
In 2024, higher-ups at the AG’s Office revived the practice of obtaining law enforcement commissions through the Louisiana State Police, the source told UWK. LSP commissions grant AG investigators “the same powers and duties as peace officers,” but only when engaged in official duties. For example, if an investigator is on the job and needs to arrest a suspect, they can do so. But off-duty, that same person cannot intervene in a crime. They are considered private citizens outside of a specific job that requires arrests, unlike police officers, who retain authority even when off-duty.
However, HB 303 introduced during the 2025 legislative session, seeks to grant the AG’s Office the power to independently commission its own investigators, bypassing the LSP.
A credible source with direct knowledge of the issue called the bill a “smokescreen,” suggesting it falsely implies the AG’s Office already has a fully functioning law enforcement unit that simply needs “solidifying.”
“If this division has been operating for the last 17 years, why does it need solidifying? The text of the bill doesn’t specifically limit arresting authority to fugitive investigators. It’s a smokescreen to give the AG full power instead of having to rely on State Police for commissions,” said the source, who requested anonymity.
History of AG Investigators’ authority
In 1992, lawmakers created a Special Investigations Division, commonly called “ID”, within the Attorney General’s Office. According to LRS 36:704(G), the division was tasked with investigating violations of state law, including public corruption and fraud. It was only allowed to arrest individuals and carry firearms if investigators held special officer commissions issued by LSP.
Although the LSP began issuing such commissions in 1976, they ceased doing so for the AG’s investigators in 2004. That decision reportedly came from then-Investigative Division Director Les Bonano, a former boxing promoter with alleged ties to organized crime. According to records obtained by UWK, Bonano had been denied a gaming license by the LSP due to his refusal to disclose previous business associations and allegations of “prior association with known members of organized crime and convicted felons.”
The source alleges that Bonano’s personal animosity toward the LSP, and concern he would not pass a background check, led him to block all ID investigators from applying for commissions during his tenure.
“Bonano could have allowed ID investigators to apply for the LSP special officer’s commissions, even though he would have been denied one because of his questionable background,” said the source, noting that his personality would not allow his subordinates to have authority he lacked.
After 2004, the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit continued to receive commissions, but the ID division did not. Despite this, ID investigators continued to execute search and arrest warrants, serve subpoenas, and make arrests without statutory authority.
To resolve the issue, two bills, SB 630 and HB 422, were introduced in 2004 that would have allowed the legislature, not the LSP, to commission AG investigators. Both failed.
“The bills died in committee,” the source told UWK. “No legislation has been introduced or passed since to authorize anyone in the AG’s Office to grant peace officer commissions or arrest authority.”
20 years operating without proper authority?
Since 2004, no other legislation addressed the issue, until now. That means for nearly two decades, investigators operated under the false assumption that they had law enforcement authority. It’s also unclear whether they were legally allowed to carry firearms during that time.
“New administrations came into office and continued the practice through inertia, a lack of knowledge of the history of the ID, and a lack of review of the statutory authority vested in ID investigators,” the source said.
In 2014, the AG’s Office implemented a policy requiring investigators to be POST-certified, a training that all police officers in the state complete. One investigator, while attempting to renew their certification, flagged the issue, noting that commissions from the LSP had stopped under Bonano. The matter remained unresolved until a staffer in 2024 began researching the legality of the unit’s powers.
The source told UWK that the staffer found that no law granted AG investigators independent arrest authority and they did not have any LSP commissions during this time.
“Investigation Division management continued to operate on a good-faith belief that AG investigators had legal arrest authority because of practices that were already in place,” said the source.
Following that internal discovery, the source says that the AG’s Office resumed working with LSP in late 2024 to issue special officer commissions. These allow investigators to arrest people, execute warrants, and carry firearms, but only while performing assigned duties. They remain limited commission officers, not full-time peace officers.
“There is no need for them to have full powers at all times. The only reason I can think of wanting that is a power play and wanting to feel like the AG’s Office has more power than it really does,” said the source.
HB 303
HB 303, authored by Rep. Mike Bayham of Chalmette, seeks to create a Fugitive Apprehension Unit within the AG’s Office and grant its investigators POST-certified peace officer status.
When current Attorney General Liz Murrill spoke on the bill before the House Judiciary Committee on May 15, 2025, she said the unit had existed since 2008 and had already made 2,800 arrests and cleared over 8,000 warrants.
“It is actually just codifying an existing unit that’s been in effect and operational in our office since 2008. It was created to assist local law enforcement agencies in locating and apprehending fugitives from justice,” Murrill testified.
However, the source and one representative pointed out that the bill’s language does not limit arrest powers to just that unit, raising concerns. The source speaking out on the issue says that’s why they believe the bill is only “smoke and mirrors”.
During the hearing, Rep. Mandie Landry raised that concern directly.
Landry: “So this bill would just give the AG’s Office authority to commission investigators for the Fugitive Unit or for anywhere in the office?”
Murrill: “This only acknowledges the existence of the Fugitive Apprehension Unit. I don’t think it touches function or operations.”
Landry: “You don’t think there’s another consequence?”
Murrill: “I don’t want there to be.”
Landry: “I’m just wondering if it’s unintended.”
Murrill: “I understand the point you’re making, and I would certainly like to make sure there is not an unintended consequence. I think I understand the concern that you have, and certainly don’t want that to happen.”
Landry: “I think there was legislation in 2004 on both sides to give the Attorney General’s Office authority to commission investigators as peace officers, but it failed. But I’m confused, if that failed, then what is going on now?”
Murrill: “I’m not really sure why it failed or why we were even doing it, but I think that memorializing it in the law certainly clarifies that we have it. But certainly, they have been operating that way for 30 or 40 years.”
HB 303 passed the full House on May 20 with a 98–1 vote. It now moves to the Senate Judiciary Committee. If approved, it will head to the full Senate and then to Gov. Landry, the former AG who disbanded the same unit in 2017.
UWK did reach out to the AG’s Office for a response to this report as well as Rep. Mike Bayham, who authored HB 303.
Rep. Bayham told UWK, “The Attorney General wanted to see this put into statute while it already exists, a future attorney general could just as well not have it anymore so this is just formalizing something that’s already in practice and utilized.”
UWK asked Rep. Bayham if he was aware that the AG’s Office did not have arresting authority for 20 years and if the bill was to skirt the LSP commissions.
“My handling of the bill is just trying to put it in statute. If there are issues beyond that or judicial issues, that’s beyond my scope. My goal is to just put this in statute. It’s not been conveyed to me that there’s any other issue beyond what I just said.”
The AG responded with, “We certainly do not agree that we don’t / didn’t have that power.”
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