NEW ORLEANS — Lamenting violence that claimed 175 lives in New Orleans last year and 72 so far this year, Mayor Mitch Landrieu has announced creation of the Mayoral Strategic Command, which he described as a “war room” to combat murder.
Landrieu, nearing the end of his first year in office, made the announcement Thursday in his state-of-the-city speech.
Landrieu announced the appointment of former City Council member James Carter as the city’s new Criminal Justice Commissioner. And he said he will hold a “Crime Action Network Summit” of people from neighborhoods all over the city to address the issue of murder.
On other matters, Landrieu said the city has now adopted a sounder budgeting process, eliminated an inherited $80 million deficit and made progress in filling potholes and fixing street lights.
The Louisiana Senate in a 27-12 vote Tuesday afternoon approved a redistricting plan that would cost the New Orleans region a seat in the upper chamber but increase the statewide total of majority African-American districts from 10 to 11.
Two newly majority non-white districts — one in the river region and another in north Louisiana — were at the crux of the debate, with several black Democrats and white Republicans arguing that the design may not stand up to federal scrutiny. All eight black Democrats and four white senators voted against Senate Bill 1.
The New Orleans region south of Lake Pontchartrain will have one fewer district, with Sens. J.P. Morrell and Cynthia Willard-Lewis, both New Orleans Democrats, drawn into a single district that spans a swath of eastern New Orleans; parts of Gentilly; the west bank of Orleans and Jefferson Parishes; and Chalmette in St. Bernard Parish.
Willard-Lewis, who now represents most of eastern New Orleans, protested the map as unfairly carving that portion of the city into multiple districts, which she said will disenfranchise voters who have returned to those neighborhoods. The senator did not propose any amendments to the plan, however.
Long synonymous with corruption, the New Orleans Police Department received a scathing reviewby the US Department of Justice Thursday, which detailed a litany of police abuses that DOJ investigators deemed commonplace enough to be considered institutional.
They range from officers using unjustified force, failing to investigate crimes against women and gays, underreporting crimes, and engaging in racial profiling of young black males – putting the city’s police force near the top of the list of America’s most troubled law enforcement agencies.
“New Orleans has every issue that has existed in our practice to date, and a few that we hadn’t encountered,” said Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil rights division, in a Thursday press conference.
In addition to issuing the report, the Justice Department said that, under terms of a new consent decree, a federal judge will for the first time have oversight of the NOPD, in a bid to force better compliance with policing standards.
To curb police corruption that worsened after hurricane Katrina in 2005, Mayor Mitch Landrieu wants to take advantage of an upswell of community activism and concern. But some residents say the police department won’t be reformed unless New Orleans confronts the conditions that police officers in this quasi-Caribbean city face every day. An insouciant attitude toward real societal problems in part contributes to the problems at the police department, they suggest.
“The police in New Orleans very much have a laissez-faire attitude,” says Julie Smith, the New Orleans-based crime author. “And I think it has to do with the whole way they were brought up, the way we all are here. They’re products of the city as much as any of us are.”
The Justice Department report faulted the police force’s recruitment and training, and identified crime-reporting procedures that repeatedly glossed over serious crimes or omitted them altogether. Investigators also found that New Orleans police officers often use deadly or physical force (such as baton strikes, pepper spray, punches, and arm twisting) when it’s not warranted, and even in “retaliatory” ways. Investigations of such cases tend to be cursory and incomplete, the DOJ said.
Racial profiling is also a problem, the DOJ found. For every 16 blacks arrested, one white person was arrested, it noted. Even the city’s canine units are out of control, with some of animals behaving so aggressively they had bitten their handlers, the report found.
The investigation did not include cases of post-Katrina police criminality, in which 20 city police officers face trials for a variety of serious crimes, including murder.
The confluence of the “live and let live” ethos of the city’s multitudinous street revelers and the “live and let die” attitudes of violent street gangs makes New Orleans a difficult and dangerous place to police. That’s compounded by the city’s long history of tolerance toward vice and poverty – a seamy underbelly only partly obscured by shiny string beads and magnolias.
“It’s not coincidence that the American incarnation of the Mafia, or Black Hand, had its inception in New Orleans…,” mystery novelist James Lee Burke wrote in a post-Katrina op-ed in the Los Angeles Times. “In Louisiana we love the idealism of Don Quixote, but we have always made room for his libertine, hedonistic sidekick, Sancho Panza.”
But problems in the New Orleans police force also diverge in many ways from New Orleans’ unique culture. “People who come to New Orleans are always taken aback by how different this place is, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that we can’t do something about the horrific murder rate,” says Dee Harper, a Loyola University criminologist who has studied the NOPD.
Though rank-and-file police officers often take the brunt of criticism, the DOJ report found that the police department’s structure also contributes to an unprofessional atmosphere. For example, police officers in New Orleans often put more emphasis on their off-duty detail work than their on-duty work, according to the report. What’s more, new Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas said Thursday he was most disappointed in “the significant failure of senior leaders” in the department.
In the mid-1990s, another DOJ investigation found similar problems, but that probe got little support from the police or New Orleans politicians. This time, Mayor Landrieu and Mr. Serpas welcomed the report’s findings, agreeing that systemic reform is critical.
Without comprehensive reform, the NOPD’s reputation threatens to sink the foundation of law and order in the Big Easy. Public confidence in the police is so low that some potential jurors have told prosecutors they won’t serve because they wouldn’t be able to trust testimony from New Orleans police officers.
Nearly 5 1/2 years after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, a rainbow now shines over the city, the former mayor said Wednesday night.
“The storm clouds are behind us and we have bright and sunny skies ahead of us,” said Ray Nagin, who served two terms as mayor of New Orleans. “There’s a lot going on.”
Nagin said a revitalization of the city is occurring and a lot has been accomplished since the August 2005 hurricane caused widespread flooding through the city.
Nagin, who stepped down as mayor in May 2010, talked about the revival of New Orleans to more than 300 students and residents Wednesday night at Colorado State University-Pueblo.
His presentation was part of the university’s spring Distinguished Speaker Series.
Keeping with the theme of poet Maya Angelou’s speech made in New Orleans, Nagin said you have to go through the storm before you can enjoy the rainbow.
Drew Brees of New Orleans Saints, 2010’s Super Bowl winning quarterback says he is strongly considering entering politics when he stops throwing the ball.
The professional athlete told Reuters that he finds the challenges in politics ‘intriguing’, leading him to believe that he would find a political career ‘stimulating’.
“Definitely, politics fascinates me, I find it very interesting. I guess, when you look at all the issues and certainly in the current economic times, at times you hate to see both parties going at each other like they do,” Brees said, according to Reuters.
He added, “You feel at times, man this is counter-productive, why can’t we just stick to the issues? Why can’t we just work to resolve some of the problems that our country has and the rest of the global economy has and (focus on) ways that we can help?”.
NEW ORLEANS — Two-and-a-half weeks after his house arrest is scheduled to end, former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards will be feted at an 84th birthday bash in New Orleans.
Monteleone (MONT-uh-lee-OHN) Hotel spokeswoman Andrea Thornton says Edwards’ brother Marion wanted the party on his brother’s birthday, Aug. 7, but accepted July 30 so it could be in the ballroom where Edwin Edwards held his election-night parties.
Thornton says so many people wanted to participate that it changed from just a party to a roast.
She says there will be an admission charge and plans are not yet final.
Edwards began serving six months of house arrest on Jan. 13. He’s completing a 10-year federal term for racketeering riverboat licenses.
NEW ORLEANS — People charged with possession of marijuana in New Orleans will no longer be arrested and taken to jail.
Cannizarro said the change provides a more efficient criminal justice system; not just for his office, but for police as well.
A recent study found that about 2,500 people are taken to jail each year in New Orleans as a direct result of marijuana possession.
Proponents of the new law said the change from criminal to municipal court clears jail space and the lightens the criminal case load.
The penalties for marijuana possession remain as a $500 fine or up to six months behind bars.
In December, New Orleans gave the green light to reclassify simple marijuana possession as a municipal offense. It took some time for other entities like the New Orleans Police Department, the sheriff’s office and the city’s attorney to implement the changes.
NEW ORLEANS – The five leading candidates to become Louisiana’s next Lieutenant Governor faced off Monday afternoon.
Eyewitness News Political Analyst and Gambit political columnist Clancy DuBos said current Secretary of State Jay Dardenne is the frontrunner. Polls shows a runoff is a strong possibility.
Three Republicans and two Democrats debated in a forum hosted by the Baton Rouge Press Club, trying to distinguish themselves from the pack.
“My goal in this election is to move us out of mediocrity and into an era of excellence,” Democrat candidate Caroline Fayard said in her closing comments.
Fayard is an attorney from Denham Springs who now practices law in New Orleans.
The other leading Democrat in the race is state Sen. Butch Gautreaux of Morgan City. Gautreaux touted his experience and said he will work to fight the negative aftereffects of the oil spill.
“There’s been blame cast all over the place, when in fact, there’s one entity to blame for the oil spill and that’s BP,” Senator Gautreaux said. “And although they say they’re going to pay for all the damages, I can tell you that that’s not been their history and that very much concerns me.”
Among the three Republicans at Monday’s debate was the leader of the party in Louisiana, candidate Roger Villere, who continued his assault of the federal government.
“Let me say where I stand on a couple of issues,” Villere said. “I’m against the Obama-torium. I’m against Obama-care. I’m against Obama-nomics, and I’m definitely against Obama’s reelection.”
Villere is a small business owner from Metairie who is running as the Tea Party candidate.
“I won these Tea Party endorsements because I am the only candidate in the race who believes in smaller government and less taxes,” Villere added.
Fellow Republican Kevin Davis touted his successes in St. Tammany, where in his third term as Parish President, he said, he has created more than 17,000 jobs.
“I don’t know that anyone else that’s running for this position can actually say that,” Davis said. “We developed a plan 10 years ago to increase our employment in St. Tammany Parish and we’ve been very successful.”
Polls show those four candidates all chasing Republican Secretary of State Jay Dardenne, who laid out how he would handle the Lieutenant Governor’s duties.
“We need to deliver a collective message that our state is unlike any other state in America,” Dardenne said. “We have a story to tell, and it happens to be much better than everybody else’s if we have the right person telling that story.”
Overall, Monday’s forum was cordial. Many of the questions involved the cultural and tourist aspects of the job.
“We need to go after the bespoked traveler that is an individual traveler that will spend a high dollar amount,” Fayard said. “The click, click, click kind of traveler who looks on-line for their resources. That’s the next wave of tourism.”
Fayard called them “eco-tourists”.
“When people visit New Orleans for conventions,” Dardenne said, “there’s no reason why there’s not an organized plan to get them out into Cajun Country.”
Dardenne wants to better promote Louisiana’s ports.
Davis wants to expand the lieutenant governor’s responsibilities.
“Certainly, I’d like to expand that office,” Davis said. “And that would be to bring the film industry back into the lieutenant governor’s position.”
The biggest issue for all the candidates could be voter apathy. According to DuBos, turnout could be under 20 percent Saturday.
Polls are open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. statewide. See what’s on your ballot with the Secretary of State Office’s website
Whether or not voters approve a major administrative overhaul of the long-troubled New Orleans Recreation Department at the polls Saturday, the agency should expect a major financial boost in next year’s budget, City Councilman Arnie Fielkow said Tuesday.
Fielkow, who is chairman of the City Council’s Budget Committee and perhaps the most visible backer of the NORD reform measure, said the council and Mayor Mitch Landrieu’sadministration have agreed in principle to roughly double NORD’s budget next year. The 2010 budget calls for NORD to receive just less than $5 million; Fielkow said next year’s appropriation should be between $9 million and $10 million.
That’s still far short of the money NORD should get, Fielkow said, noting that Baton Rouge, a similar-size city, devotes about $40 million to recreational programs. While that sum covers some items that are not under NORD’s oversight, Fielkow said he thinks NORD will need $25 million or $30 million annually to offer programs on par with Baton Rouge’s. Baton Rouge’s recreational programs have received national acclaim.
The City Charter amendment on Saturday’s ballot would abolish NORD as a city department and create a new public-private commission to administer the city’s recreation programs. Passage of the measure would not directly affect the size of the agency’s budget.
Fielkow told reporters that he recognizes the change is “not a magic wand” but said it is still desperately needed, in part because it would encourage the private sector to donate money to city recreational programs. He said the new structure also would stabilize the management of NORD, which has had 14 directors in the past 13 years.
Fielkow said he “would be very disappointed” if the charter amendment doesn’t pass Saturday. But, he added, “I’m an elected official, and I’m still going to advocate” for recreation.
Later in the day, the charter change was endorsed by a long list of civic and community organizations including the Greater New Orleans Afterschool Partnership, Beacon of Hope, the Black Economic Development Council, the New Orleans Business Council, Citizens for 1 Greater New Orleans, Common Good, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the New Orleans Board of Trade, the Neighborhood Development Collaborative, the New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation, the New Orleans Regional Black Chamber of Commerce and the Young Leadership Council.