What do ya’ll think about the Justice Department taking over the New Orleans Police Dept?
The people of this city should rest assured that together with the Department of Justice, we will fundamentally change the culture of the NOPD once and for all,” said Landrieu, who estimated the cost at roughly $11 million a year over the next four to five years.
New Orleans police scandals go back decades. In the 1990s, they included the severe beating of a suspect in an officer’s death, and the conviction of a police officer who arranged the murder of someone who filed a brutality complaint against him. It also saw a conviction in a separate case of a killer cop who murdered a fellow officer and two others during a restaurant robbery.
That SCREAMS something needs to be done. The federal government stepping in? Perhaps.
However, that its the current administration’s DOJ leaves me a little lacking in confidence in their ability to fix this.
From what I understand of how this would work, it would be the FBI involved in this, and that doesn’t seem entirely outside the realm of government authority.
The people of this city have a police force that aren’t protecting them. Something DEFINITELY needs to change.
However, that its the current administration’s DOJ leaves me a little lacking in confidence in their ability to fix this.
That’s like DC Councilman and former Mayor Marion Barry lecturing the DC Council on ethics.
I’d have to agree.
On one hand, NOLA was/is a serious case study in systemic corruption. Their police department–according to on-the-ground accounts–was among the first looters in the Katrina debacle. In addition, they have a long, storied history of infringing on the rights of citizens. Their confiscation of firearms of citizens during Katrina is a glaring example.
OTOH, the current Justice Department has all the credibility of a Bill Clinton speech on the virtues of abstinence…
it bothers me that a local group of people, unable to ‘fix’ their own problems, thinks a corrupt federal government can do a better job than they. it bothers me that there is the thought that, “if all else fails, call in the feds, cause we locals aren’t capable.” it bothers me that there is this dependence on the federal gov’t in yet another area. and i’d be really surprised if they were out in ten years.
i am by far not an expert in law or police work, so there very well may be things i’m not seeing here that make this good – if so, perhaps someone can illuminate for me. i just don’t see it.
The article implies that reforms had been attempted before, but that the previous mayor failed to keep them going – with the change of guard came a change in priority.
Though the DOJ has this problem as well (as far as attny gen goes), there’s more stability in authority than there would be with a mayor that’s voted out ever 2-4 years (that’s the proper cycle, right?) I think they are hoping in more continuity.
But again, the current admin? Yeah…
I think I could have been more clear here…
What I was trying to say in my previous comment is that the people who will be put in charge of this may provide a more continuuous source of authority. Eric Holder won’t be running this operation…and its also very likely that the people who will be running it won’t be getting a ton of direct oversight from the Attorney General’s office.
So even though the Attny Gen may change in the next coming months (fingers crossed), the people put in the authoritative position of cleaning up this crapper are not likely to change as well – hence the continuity.
As stated in my first comment, the FBI is a DOJ department. They will probably be the most likely handlers of this task. And those agents are going to have a bit of a chain of command to get to the actual DOJ. Those positions don’t change that often.
The problem with the city is that the Chief of Police is a more direct chain of command to the mayor (I’m thinking twice removed, if not actually reporting to). If the mayor deems it a priority, it gets done. If not, it won’t. And that chain of command has a LOT more fluctuation.
I could be wrong, but I don’t think I am that far off the mark on this. I do have a lot of family in law enforcement, so I’m drawing off of that.
i truly do hope the city can be made safe.
my husband lived in new orleans for several years, and he says that to bring down the corruption, they’ll have to get rid of the drugs. he also thinks it’s an election-year-move, and that the corruption will just change hands.
i wonder, too, that a city that prides itself in mardi gras – and all that goes on during mardi gras, most of which is way outside the bounds of conservative morality … i wonder how much control it really wants. they want to have their ‘pleasures,’ but those come with a price – the price being that it draws in the kinds of people who enjoy those pleasures, and with them the means to achieve those pleasures.
how much accountability to they really want? if they hold their police officers accountable, then the police will hold them accountable – do they really want that? do they really want to pay the price of safety? because safety, and the freedom that comes with that safety, are not free.
Not sure that the folks in NOLA really want to be free. Look at what they elect every cycle.