The city of New Orleans and the U.S. Justice Department are pushing to end a decade of police oversight that was ordered in response to a long history of mistreatment of African Americans and notorious corruption, including a 1994 murder ordered by a crooked officer and an attempt to cover up the killings of unarmed civilians Hurricane Katrina, reports the Associated Press. Critics say the reform effort is not a success story that should be replicated nationwide. At a Tuesday hearing, members of the public shared personal experiences of police brutality and cited continued racial disparities in use of force, poor handling of sex offenses and lackluster efforts to engage the community. One elderly Black man got down on his knees to beg the judge to keep oversight in place.
The city agreed to what it called "the nation's most expansive federal oversight plan" in 2013 after a U.S. Justice Department investigation found evidence of racial bias, misconduct and a culture of impunity. There is wide acknowledgement that the department has been transformed, with improved policies and leadership, but officers still disproportionately use force against Black people, and community activists say they’re still not being consulted. “It is the community that is going to be served by the NOPD, needs to feel included by the NOPD, heard by the NOPD. And I cannot say today that that has been achieved,” said Stella Cziment, who runs the Office of the Independent Police Monitor, a civilian-run city agency. In public comments, New Orleans residents have cited payroll fraud allegations, a corruption charge involving the mayor's bodyguard rape cases that go unsolved far more often than the national average. The oversight should still be seen as a “success story,” particularly given the department’s notorious history, said Rafael Goyeneche of the nonprofit Metropolitan Crime Commission. Any department with more than 900 members will have some officers crossing lines, but that won’t ”necessarily mean that the entire department is corrupt or mismanaged,” Goyeneche said.
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