NEW ORLEANS — An audit of the New Orleans Police Departments proactive, district-based "task forces" sharply criticized the now-suspended units, with federal consent decree monitor overseeing the NOPD saying they operated with little supervision and oftentimes endangered both officers and civilians.
The report, released Friday, was in response to the unauthorized March 2019 pursuit involving multiple officers. The chase ended in a fiery crash that destroyed the Unity One Beauty Supply store.
Three people died, several were injured, four officers were fired and two were suspended.
The report found "serious shortcomings in multiple areas relating to Task Force operations, including lack of close and effective supervision, lack of a clear daily mission, multiple inefficiencies, and poor documentation."
NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson disbanded all of the district task forces in May.
A criminal investigation has been opened into four task force officers who were overheard on police body camera tape trying to "circle up" to make sure their stories lined up about a search of a New Orleans man, Radon Ray, that may have been unconstitutional.
Video of the conversation was obtained by The Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate as the newspaper delved into the crumbling case against Ray. His attorney contests the search as illegal.
The report said that shortcomings from 2019, and even some from 2011, persist into 2020.
Ahead of the monitor's report being released, Mayor LaToya Cantrell pushed for the consent decree to end.
In a public roundtable conversation Thursday with New Orleans Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson, Cantrell laid out the case to wrap up the seven-year oversight arrangement.
“We have moved very close to satisfying that consent decree that comes with some mandates in and of itself. We've spent $55 million if you want to call it what it is,” Cantrell said.
“Get the bear out of our pocket and allow us to meet the needs of our people,” she said.
Cantrell’s strongly-worded request comes at a delicate time for the department, which is under fire for using tear gas and rubber projectiles against protesters marching against police brutality and systemic racism.
Ferguson said at the roundtable that he was open to ending the consent decree.
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