Judge says the New Orleans Police Department can begin the process of ending federal oversight
Share:
The New Orleans Police Department can begin winding down its longstanding federal oversight, a judge ruled Tuesday in response to a request from the city and the Justice Department to start wrapping up the monitoring program. In 2013, the City of New Orleans agreed to what it called “the nation’s most expansive” federal oversight plan after a U.S. Justice Department investigation found evidence of racial bias, misconduct and a culture of impunity. The department had long engaged in mistreatment of the city’s Black community and been plagued by high-profile scandals including a 1994 murder ordered by a corrupt cop and an attempt to cover-up police killings of unarmed civilians in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Although critics say the police department hasn't done enough to change the department and restore the public's trust, Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick told U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan during a Monday hearing that the NOPD has established a “new culture.”.
In the years since oversight started, the department has created a framework of audits and data analysis, increased transparency by revising and publishing online training materials and policies, and enhanced efforts to cut down on longtime issues such as payroll fraud, police officials said.
“This is the way we do business nowadays,” Deputy Superintendent Nicholas Gernon told the judge Monday. Morgan praised the department for its transformation but reminded the city that more work remains. “One thing you want is to put these procedures in place in a way that you don’t slip, you don’t backslide. That’s why all the safeguards you put in place matter," Morgan said Monday. "And that’s why it’s important, I think, to have the involvement of the monitors and the DOJ (Department of Justice) and the court, until everyone’s sure all the policies are in place and that they’ll survive changes in leadership and changes in officers.”.
