Judge says the New Orleans Police Department can begin the process of ending federal oversight
NEW ORLEANS– New Orleans police can start putting an end to it long-term federal oversightA judge ruled this on Tuesday following a request from the city and the Ministry of Justice to phase out the monitoring program.
The police department has transformed itself into a more transparent and accountable agency, even as work remains to be done over the next two years as the program wraps up, U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan said at a hearing.
“The court is extremely proud of the achievements that the NOPD has made,” Morgan said. “The hard work of the civilian and sworn members of the NOPD has paid off. The NOPD is a very different agency than the one that created the NOPD DOJ investigation in 2011.”
The city revived a long-dormant motion late Friday asking for an immediate end to federal oversight, but Morgan rejected it, describing it as unnecessary “political gamesmanship” that “diminishes the credibility of the city’s top leadership.”
Morgan denied another request from the city to hire an attorney from the office of the state’s Republican attorney general, Liz Murrill, who has criticized the federal oversight as costing too much money. Murrill said in a statement that she would appeal the judge’s orders in an effort to end the supervision sooner.
City Council President JP Morrell, standing next to mayoral candidate and Councilwoman Helena Moreno, denounced Cantrell’s attempt to immediately end the oversight, calling it “cowardly” and “insulting.” They said they had not been consulted beforehand and urged the city to fully complete the reform process.
“The city can’t have it both ways,” Morgan said, noting that the city had already acknowledged that it had not yet met all the requirements needed to end federal oversight.
Instead, the judge said she was following the rules joint movement filed by the city and the Department of Justice last September, requesting a two-year “hold period” so that the NOPD had time to resolve outstanding issues and demonstrate that existing reforms remained in effect .
In one Press release from MondayMayor LaToya Cantrell praised the police department for its progress but criticized Morgan for not ending the oversight sooner, saying reform goals were “achieved years ago.”
In 2013, the city agreed to what it called “the most comprehensive” federal oversight plan in the country, following a U.S. Department of Justice investigation. found evidence of racial prejudicemisconduct and a culture of impunity. The department had long been involved in mistreatment of the city’s black community and was plagued by high-profile scandals, including a 1994 murder on the orders of a corrupt officer and a attempt to cover up police killings of unarmed civilians in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Although critics say the police department has not done enough to change and restore public trust, Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick told Morgan during a hearing Monday that the NOPD has established a “new culture.”
In the years since the oversight began, the department has created a framework for audits and data analysis, increased transparency by reviewing and publishing online training materials and policies, strengthened disciplinary processes, and increased efforts to address legacy issues such as wage fraudpolice officials said.
Kirkpatrick told reporters that the judge’s ruling was the result of 12 years of hard work by her department.
“It’s a huge milestone for the city, I’m excited about it,” she said. “NOPD – this police department – is truly a world-class police department in a world-class city and I’m just so proud.”
“What’s important during this two-year period is that we stay the course,” Kirkpatrick added. “There’s no retreat, it’s just moving forward.”
Jonas Geissler, a Justice Department attorney, told Morgan Monday that more improvements are needed before the city can completely leave federal oversight. The Justice Department will continue to review audits, policies and data throughout the support period, he said.
During a public comment period, community watchdogs raised a host of concerns — many of which were directly related to the original mandates from the 2013 reform compact that the city promised the Department of Justice it would implement. Police officials told the judge they are now trying to address some of the most pressing cases.
“One underlying message was clear: the work is not done and we need the community to recognize that and continue to get involved,” Stella Cziment, head of the city’s Office of the Independent Police Monitor, told the Associated Press. “Because without them it’s not possible.”
An initiative to create community advisory councils to meet with police and make recommendations has languished by almost all accounts, although the city appointed a full-time staffer in December to try to revive these groups in the coming months.
Detectives still struggle to deal with high rates of sex crimes, resulting in far fewer cases being solved than the national average. In the past three weeks, NOPD officials say they have assigned eight additional detectives to work on these cases, bringing the total number of officers from 17 to 25. Julie Ford, an advocate for improving police responses to sex crimes, said the NOPD “continues to struggle with the effectiveness of their investigations into sexual assault cases” and will benefit from continued federal monitoring and support.
And in a city that is just over 50% black, nearly 90% of police use of force last year was against black people, the city’s Office of the Independent Police Monitor reported. A court-appointed federal monitor reviewed the NOPD’s use of force and concluded there was no evidence of bias based on the Justice Department’s analysis. The NOPD also plans to hire Sigma Squared, a consulting firm co-founded by Harvard University economist Roland Fryer, to improve its analysis of potential bias in policing.
Fryer said in an email to the AP that his company has created “the only software in the world that can distinguish between inequality and bias and help departments do more data-responsive policing overall.”
Police officials have said the hiring of Fryer is an example of the department going above and beyond the requirements of federal oversight.
Marvin Arnold, organizer at the police watchdog group Eye on Surveillance, had drawn attention to this for some time alleged conflicts of interest among federal monitors who oversee the NOPD, prompting dozens of concerned public comments submitted to the judge. Arnold said he felt Morgan did not substantively address these concerns, which “reinforces the idea that the public response was a dog and pony show.” The observers have denied any conflict of interest.
Belden “Noonie Man” Batiste, chairman of the civic advocacy group New Orleans United Front and who attended most of the public hearings, protested in court Monday to oppose an end to federal oversight.
Batiste said he appreciated that the judge directly addressed the wide range of concerns he and others had shared with her. And he noted that with the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, which has also tried to do that limit federal oversight of police departmentshe believed it was a smart move to lock down the city’s police force for another two years of oversight and reform during the conservation period.
“Sometimes you can have a debate, and you can walk away with nothing or with something small,” Batiste said. “Moving towards sustainability, that’s something.”
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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Brook on X: @jack_brook96