Citizen Crime Watch Blog

N.O. police watchdog to focus on big picture
Citizen complaint trends to be analyzed
The Times-Picayune
Saturday, August 09, 2008
By Laura Maggi

Within four months, New Orleans should have its first independent monitor to oversee how the New Orleans Police Department conducts investigations into allegations of police misconduct.

A committee to help city Inspector General Robert Cerasoli fill the position is expected to be established in September. A permanent financing source for the office will be considered by voters in October, as part of the proposed financing stream for the inspector general’s office and the Ethics Review Board. Cerasoli hopes to hire someone by Thanksgiving.

While the office will not have the power to sanction New Orleans Police Department officers or force Superintendent Warren Riley to reopen investigations, the monitor will have access to files and NOPD data, as well as a mandate to regularly inform the public about the Police Department’s actions.

Instead of investigating individual complaints of police misconduct, which are investigated by the NOPD’s Public Integrity Bureau, the monitor will take the long view, looking at patterns and trends of particular kinds of complaints, for example, or identifying gaps in training that could lead to a spate of similar incidents.

“It will give that agency the ability to monitor and promote a more effective police department,” said Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission.

In other cities where a monitor’s office has been created, the position provides a bully pulpit for outside criticism of the police department — criticism that police leaders often consider, proponents said.

“There are many positive signs that the changes we advocated and that they implemented are working to lower the dollar amounts of (legal) judgments and settlements against the department, as well as improving community relations,” said Merrick Bobb, the special counsel in Los Angeles County who monitors the county Sheriff’s Department.

In New Orleans, Riley has pledged to work with the independent monitor, noting that he served on the task force that recommended the creation of the position.

“We have no problem with making this police department better,” Riley said at a recent City Council hearing.

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You don’t lose gun rights in traffic stop
By Gordon Hutchinson

“The female officer got out and walked up to my car, and I told her, ‘I’m sorry. I know better. I simply wasn’t paying attention when I made that left turn.’

“When she asked for my driver’s license, insurance and registration, I told her there was a gun in the glove box, just to warn her. She walked around to the other side of the car, opened the door, opened the glove box and took the gun out. It was a little .25 automatic. It wasn’t even loaded.

“She proceeded to write me the ticket. When she gave me the ticket, she made some sort of quick spiel about where I could come to get the gun back if I brought a receipt for it. I didn’t follow what she was telling me, but she kept the gun.

“When I asked her if she was going to give me a receipt, she told me: ‘The way I look at it, I didn’t know you had it, and you don’t know I’ve got it.’ She left with the gun.”

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