Col. Paul Robert started his career with the Sheriff’s Department 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 of the department’s criminal divisions and the departmental Training Center and Firing Range. In 2011 Robert transferred to the Training Division where he helps oversee the operation of both the firing range complex and the departmental 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 Senior Advisor.

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, and retired from the Sheriff’s Department 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 Maj. Jeffrey J. Robert manages the IT Division of the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office.

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 by 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 organized and was a charter member of the department’s Crisis Response Team (SWAT). Col. Robert currently serves as a 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 Betty and the late Cecil Paul Robert Sr., and he and his wife Jaime have been married for over 35 years and have three children: Bobbye, Michael, and Scott.