NEW ORLEANS — Several NOPD officers were looking forward to a recent promotion, but that excitement quickly turned to disappointment when the promotions were put on hold.
"The offices that are about to be promoted are not happy with that result obviously," Claude Schlesinger, Attorney for the Fraternal Order of Police said.
According to the President of the Police Association of New Orleans, Michael Glasser, PANO was told there were complaints about the promotion testing process from the city. The promotion policy was then rescinded two days after the list came out, according to Glasser.
"We have yet to be given an actual reason. What was wrong with the testing procedure they were using," Glasser said.
But now there's speculation regarding whether or not alleged issues with the process are the real reasons behind the pause.
According to our partners at the Times-Picayune, two officers at the top of the list to be promoted to Major were both involved in a Public Integrity Bureau investigation into Mayor Cantrell's now-retired bodyguard, Officer Jeffrey Vappie.
Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick told the paper the Mayor had a say in pausing the promotions, but Kirkpatrick declined to comment to WWL Louisiana when we caught up with her at an event Thursday.
Schlesinger says the Mayor should not have a role in the process and hopes the FOP can collaborate with the city and the police department to come to a solution.
"We want to try to get it back to civil service where it is purely objective and there is no favoritism or politics shown in that process," Schlesinger said.
Pano, on the other hand, has taken a different approach. Pano has sent a petition to the New Orleans Civil Services Division to investigate the process. Glasser says the process should be fair, and not just for this round of promotions.
"What about the officers that are waiting to make sergeant, waiting to make lieutenant, waiting to make captain, and are looking forward to a career here? They begin to question whether or not that career is worth investing the time," Glasser said.
We reached out to the Mayor's office for comment but have not heard back.
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