Council arrests municipal arrest requirement
A very good decision by our reformist City Council after a lot of hard work and advocacy by the Metropolitan Crime Commission …
Laws aim to lighten load for police
Two N.O. laws aim to lighten cops’ load
Friday, April 04, 2008
By Bruce Eggler
The Times-Picayune
Seeking to free New Orleans police officers to concentrate on arresting violent criminals, the City Council passed two ordinances Thursday directing officers to issue a written summons instead of arresting and booking people who are stopped for most municipal offenses or are found to have outstanding attachments for traffic violations. …
The NOPD’s practice of arresting thousands of people each year for traffic and municipal violations has come under growing criticism, with the Metropolitan Crime Commission issuing several reports criticizing the department for focusing too much on people who commit minor crimes.
The commission found that half of the 58,219 arrests in New Orleans during 2007 were for municipal or traffic offenses.
Municipal offenses include such things as disturbing the peace, trespassing, making threats, urinating in public, playing loud music and public intoxication.
Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Crime Commission, said the NOPD has been wasting precious resources on minor offenses, especially as the department struggles to arrest repeat offenders and contain violent crime.
It can take an officer as long as two hours to book a person on a municipal or traffic violation, and the person then is often released from jail within hours, even if the person can’t make bail.
Reducing the number of people taken to jail should also reduce the city’s bill for feeding and housing prisoners, which is expected to top $27 million this year.
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