NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans police officers have often used deadly force without justification, repeatedly made unconstitutional arrests and engaged in racial profiling, the Justice Department said Thursday in a scathing report.
Mayor Mitch Landrieu called the report sobering but
not surprising, given the highly publicized problems laid bare after Hurricane
Katrina in 2005. The mayor had requested the review shortly after taking office
in May 2010 and said many of the problems outlined in the report were exposed
after Katrina but existed long before the storm devastated the low-lying city
on the Mississippi River.
The report found that the department has long
failed to adequately protect New Orleans residents because of numerous
shortcomings, including inadequate supervision and ineffective methods of
taking and investigating complaints.
The report's release comes as one former police
officer awaits sentencing for a federal manslaughter conviction in a
post-Katrina shooting and as others await trial in the separate killings of
unarmed civilians. Justice Department officials made no mention of the active
criminal cases in their report.
"Even the most serious uses of force, such as
officer-involved shootings and in-custody deaths, are investigated inadequately
or not at all," the report said, referring frequently to the department by
its acronym NOPD. "NOPD's mishandling of officer-involved shooting
investigations was so blatant and egregious that it appeared intentional in
some respects."
It said poor recruitment, bad training, ignorance
or disregard of policies that often are unclear contributed to a lack of
confidence and even a distrust of the police. That, in turn contributes to a
violent crime problem that police have found difficult to control, the report
said.
The report says internal investigations are
conducted by field supervisors who lack training and that discipline had been
meted out inconsistently. These and other problems "render NOPD's system
for investigating and responding to allegations of officer misconduct
ineffective at changing officer behavior or holding officers responsible for
their actions."
Mary Howell, a civil rights lawyer who has
frequently represented victims of alleged police misconduct, agreed with the
findings.
"You cannot fight crime with a brutal and
corrupt police department," she added. "We have had it for years and
we have paid dearly for that."
Landrieu and his hand-picked police chief, Ronal
Serpas, said reforms already are under way and they welcomed the report.
"There's nobody in this room that is surprised
by the general tenor and tone of what this report has to say," Landrieu
said at the news conference with Serpas and Justice Department officials,
including U.S. Attorney Jim Letten.
Landrieu reiterated a pledge that policy changes
and practical reforms would be adopted as a result of the report and enforced
by a federal court order he plans to seek jointly with the Justice Department
Serpas, a New Orleans native who served in the
department under another reform-minded chief, Richard Pennington, in the 1990s,
said policies Pennington put in place improved practices at a time of reported
corruption and acts of violence by officers. But he noted Pennington left a
decade ago and now a federal court order overseen by a judge would ensure a new
round of reforms sticks.
Serpas said he has already dismissed officers for
violations of department policy. He is seeking more authority from the City
Council and the city's civil service board to promote officers to key
managerial positions.
The 115-page report and 16 added pages of
recommendations outlined a myriad of problems.
The report said lethal force by police included the
firing of guns at moving cars, risking hitting the driver and turning the car
into an uncontrolled weapon. It also said inadequately trained dog handlers
couldn't keep their dogs from biting suspects who were complying or trying to
comply with police orders.
It also said department practice and policy led to
the "under-investigation and under-enforcement" of laws protecting
women from violence, adding there was evidence of police harassment of gays and
lesbians.
And the report raised questions of racial bias.
"NOPD use of force data also shows a troubling
racial disparity that warrants a searching inquiry into whether racial bias
influenced the use of force at NOPD," the report said.
"Of the 27 instances between January 2009 and
May 2010 in which NOPD officers intentionally discharged their firearms at
people, all 27 of the subjects of this deadly force were
African-American," the report stated without specifying if any — or how
many — were fatally wounded.
A review of "resisting arrest" reports
documenting use of force over the same period found blacks were the subjects 81
out of 96 times.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
(AP
Photo)
