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BATON ROUGE – By a narrow 5-4 vote, Fabian Blache III, executive director of the Louisiana State Board of Private Security Examiners, kept his job April 30 after the board found that accusations against him of favoritism, inappropriate conduct and of damaging agency morale were unsubstantiated.
“There was nothing found against me at all,” Blache told the Louisiana Record. “The board reinstated me Monday afternoon.”
Blache and an executive assistant, Bridgette Hull, had been placed on administrative leave for a month while an investigation was conducted.
Fabian Blache III,
The board is a state agency with 11 employees who regulate private security companies. They are tasked with making sure that security guards have the proper equipment and training to perform their jobs.
Controversy has surrounded Blache’s reportedly aggressive management style, including a separate incident where he attempted to shut down a company whose employees he accused of overstepping their authority, according to a report published April 30 in The Advocate.
Allegations also included sexual harassment, race discrimination, unprofessional behavior, sexually suggestive gestures, failure to fill out time sheets and take vacation days.
An investigation of Blache was triggered by an anonymous letter of complaint from an agency employee. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission did its own investigation and found the charges unfounded. The EEOC review results were sent to the board, which acquitted Blache and restored him to his position.
Letters of support vouching for Blache’s character were received from the Nevada State Private Investigators Licensing Board, Kevin P. Fucich, a private investigator and owner of Falcon Security of New Orleans, and Lisa Beeson, owner of Tactical Impact Security of Baton Rouge.
Blache, who has been in the job for over two years, indicated that he had been trying to crack down on an industry that had become slipshod and that some people resented his going into the field to conduct investigations.
“They were offended that I went out myself,” he said. “I conduct some investigations and I’m covert in my approach.”
Blache said he investigates potential security company violators either in plain clothes, in a police-style uniform that he created, or in business attire.
He said he decided to do personal investigations because the job was not being done adequately.
"My predecessor had problems with two former inspectors. One was not doing the inspections as he should, but was spending his time in a theater and so I decided to go out personally to show that I'm on top of the situation," Blache said.
Regarding the split 5-4 vote to keep his job, Blache said he believed four members of the board who wanted him removed still had hard feelings over an incident in 2017 when he reprimanded an agency employee for making a racial slur.
"The employee was not pleased and some of the board members were friends of the employee," Blache said.
Hull remains on leave pending a decision to be made by Blache whether to discipline her over information contained in the investigation. Blache described it as “salacious garbage,” according to The Advocate.