NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Police Department wants out of its federal consent decree.
But the monitor says the department is still falling short of the goals outlined in the decree.
Wednesday, things got heated in the courtroom between the Judge and the counsel representing NOPD.
Among a long list of non-compliance issues brought up by the independent monitor – the city told us they disagree with the most recent report and can prove the department has complied with the decree’s mandates.
Independent monitor Johnathan Aronie summarized his most recent report on the department’s Public Integrity Bureau or PIB.
The report lays out successes and a long list of failures from NOPD regarding standards set by the decree. For example, failure to provide the necessary training needed for PIB officers, concerns over staffing levels and resources, and timeliness in completing investigations.
“We have twice as many murders as in 2019,” said Ronal Serpas, former NOPD Superintendent. “Twice as many shootings as 2019. The city is afraid.”
Serpas was superintendent when the city entered the agreement back in 2010. He said a lack of manpower is the reason why NOPD cannot bring all aspects of the decree into compliance.
“Performing constitutional policing under a consent decree requires significant staffing to continue those very important pieces of the consent decree that the city agreed to,” Serpas said.
The attorney representing the Police Association of New Orleans, Eric Hessler, told WWL-TV the decent decree is the very reason why staffing levels cannot be reached.
“It is causing problems, it's causing attrition, an increase in crime,” Hessler said. “It’s causing the police department to spend a whole lot of time and energy and resources in trying to kick that ball that keeps being moved.”
Hessler says NOPD has complied with the decree.
“We have a much better department,” he said. “Much better trained, much better-behaved department than we did in the 80’s and 90’s”
Wednesday afternoon NOPD released its response to the monitor's findings on the city’s website.
“It shows that we have made the progress this consent decree demanded,” said Hessler.
City attorneys asked the judge to make a ruling on their motion to terminate the consent decree within 60 days. The judge said that the timeline is unlikely.
The next hearing will be June 7th along with a public hearing in which residents can ask questions and make comments.
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