COL Paul Robert started his career with the Sheriff’s Office as a radio operator in April of 1975 and was transferred to the Patrol Division in December of the same year. In 1976, he was transferred into the Criminal Investigations Division as a Detective. He was subsequently promoted to the rank of Detective Sergeant in 1984 and to Detective Lieutenant in 1988. Robert was promoted to the rank of Captain in 1992 and placed in charge of the Training Division and Firing Range. In March of 2000, Robert achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was named Chief of Criminal Operations. In that capacity Robert supervised all the office’s criminal divisions and the Training Center and Firing Range. In 2011, Robert transferred back to the Training Division where he helped oversee the operation of both the firing range complex and the training center. On February 1st, 2015, Robert was promoted to his current rank of Colonel. On January 3rd, 2019, Sheriff Bobby Webre named Robert as his Executive Officer.

A lifelong resident of Ascension Parish, COL Robert continued a deep family tradition by choosing to pursue a career in the field of law enforcement. His grandfather, Waldon LeBlanc, Sr., was a Donaldsonville City Police Officer in the 1940’s. Waldon’s son (and Paul’s uncle), Robert LeBlanc, Sr., served as both a Donaldsonville City Police Officer and Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Deputy, retiring from the Sheriff’s Office in 1991, after having attained the rank of Captain. Captain LeBlanc’s son, Robert LeBlanc, Jr., retired from the A.P.S.O.’s Motorcycle Division as a Captain in 2011. Paul’s two brothers also chose to pursue careers in the field of criminal justice: Captain Waldon C. Robert retired as the commander of the Traffic Division of the Baton Rouge City Police Department and now works for the A.P.S.O. as an instructor at the Training Center, and Maj. Jeffrey J. Robert managed the IT Division of the A.P.S.O. for over 27 years before retiring in 2024.

COL Robert is a 1984 graduate of the LSU Law Enforcement Institute in Baton Rouge, where he was presented with both the L.S.U. L.E.I. Alumni Association’s Leadership Award for being elected Class President, and the Louisiana Association of Chiefs of Police award for having achieved the 42nd Session’s highest scholastic average. In 1986, he became the department’s first P.O.S.T. certified firearms instructor and subsequently designed and help implement one of the most comprehensive firearms training programs in the state. In 1991, COL Robert became only the third officer in the history of the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office to be selected to attend the prestigious FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia.

In 1993 COL Robert helped organize and served as the first commander of the office’s Crisis Response Team (SWAT). COL Robert also served as a charter member of the State of Louisiana’s P.O.S.T. Firearms Curriculum Committee, a board of veteran firearms instructors who scrutinize all proposed changes in firearms qualification courses and training curriculum for all law enforcement officers in the state.

COL Robert was named the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office Deputy of the Year in 1986 and 1999 by the Knights of Columbus, the Department’s Outstanding Deputy in 1999 by VFW Post 3693, and the Outstanding Law Enforcement Officer in Ascension Parish in 2001-2002 by the General Troy Middleton Baton Rouge Chapter of the Military Order of the World Wars.

COL Robert is a graduate of East Ascension High School and the River Parishes Community College. He is the son of the late Betty and Cecil Paul Robert Sr., and he and his wife Jaime have been married for over 40 years and have three children: Bobbye, Michael, and Scott.