Don Dixon, Retired Lake Charles Police Chief, Dead at 71

News you do not want to wake up to on Christmas morning is the death of a loved one. Former Police Chief Don Dixon, 71, has been reported dead as of this morning.

Dixon was named Chief of Police in Lake Charles on January 1, 2002. Prior to his LCPD position, he was the Senior Resident Agent of the Lake Charles FBI. Dixon spent 30 years as an FBI agent and was certified as FBI Instructor in Firearms, defensive tactics, SWAT, counter-sniper activities, and tactics, and was on the tactical team for the 2002 Superbowl.

The title of Police Chief in Lake Charles goes back to 1868, when Lake Charles was first incorporated. Pat Fitzgerald was the first Constable of the city and served as the blacksmith as well. He was the only officer in the entire city of 700 and had to enforce the law without access to a jail to hold criminals in at the time. In 1874, the city of Lake Charles organized the official Lake Charles Police Department with Fitzgerald becoming the first Police Chief overseeing seven captains that patrolled the city. The first dedicated jail was not built until 1945 when the police station was built at Kirby and Pithon St.

Dixon came into the Chief of Police position as the department was going through its own reorganization. The University of South Florida grad in Sociology was unanimously voted into a second 6-year term in 2008. Dixon's focus on the community reached out to more than just fighting crime. Dixon was an advocate for Big Brothers Big Sisters and believed in re-investing in the children of our community. Dixon retired after a total of 47 years in the law enforcement business in 2019. 17 of those years serving the City of Lake Charles.

With Dixon's FBI knowledge, he was able to make the Lake Charles SWAT team what it is today, and bring home countless awards and recognition along the way. He was called the "Founding Father" of the LCPD swat and he will be missed by all that worked for him.