NEW ORLEANS — The 12-year-old federal consent decree to turn around the once-troubled NOPD took a major step toward resolution Friday with a joint motion from the city and U.S. Department of Justice to enter the final “sustainment period” of the sometimes contentious agreement.
The motion now goes to U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan to start a public comment period before she gives the green light for the two-year off-ramp in which the department must prove its ability to maintain its hard-won reforms.
The federal intervention began when the DOJ sued the city in 2012 to force improvements inside of a department that had once been riddled with corruption, brutality, civil rights violations, biased policing, and cronyism.
But in recent court hearings, as the NOPD checked off the final major areas of reform, Judge Morgan applauded the department’s progress and invited the city to start working on its plan to enter the final phase.
In the motion filed Friday morning, the city and DOJ admitted that there are still remaining areas that the NOPD needs to bring up to Constitutional standards, but that enough progress has been made to go forward.
“The Parties further agree that, by completion of the Sustainment Plan, the City will address any current outstanding issues of material compliance with the consent decree,” the motion reads.
This step in the long legal proceeding is certain to be a moment of triumph for Mayor LaToya Cantrell and Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick, who was hired last year in part to bring the NOPD across the finish line.
The ground-breaking motion marks a dramatic turnaround from only a couple of years ago when the city filed its own combative motion to end wind down the agreement with Cantrell saying, “Enough is enough.”
The public comment period, the next step after Morgan’s expected approval, will unfold over the next two months and is anticipated to consist of public meetings and final court hearings in which public and community leaders will be invited to weigh in.
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