Citizen Crime Watch Blog

Camera installer has no La. license
N.O. council looks at surveillance contract
Thursday, June 26, 2008
By David Hammer

After months of fruitless attempts to get public documents on New Orleans’ troubled crime camera program, a City Council member has discovered that the Nagin administration gave a small contract to a company — too small to need a Louisiana contractor’s license — then exponentially increased the company’s take to more than $1 million.

Councilwoman Stacy Head led the inquiry into the city’s contract with LSI Research of Huntsville, Ala. She got confirmation Wednesday from city legal and contract procurement staff that the company was hired to install just eight cameras, even though the city knew at the time it needed to install at least 200 of the devices.

The administration officials also confirmed what Head found Tuesday night while reviewing documents: LSI falsely claimed it had a Louisiana contractor’s license when it bid for the work. Head said LSI used what she called a “fraudulent” contractor’s license number in an initial bid to install and operate the cameras.

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NOPD to target street-level dealers
Major-case unit’s officers redeployed
Thursday, June 26, 2008
By Laura Maggi

Many officers working drug cases as part of the New Orleans Police Department’s major-case narcotics unit, as well as some working on federal task forces, this week were moved to smaller narcotics task forces operating out of six district offices around the city.

The move is part of a plan to reshape officer deployment that was developed by Deputy Chief Kirk Bouyelas, who became head of the NOPD’s operations bureau earlier this month after a year and a half as commander of the department’s Uptown-based 2nd District.

With a smaller department than before Hurricane Katrina, officers need to focus on street-level deals rather than complex and time-consuming investigations of high-volume drug dealers, Bouyelas said. Bouyelas, who in his new position directs the strategic direction of the department, said his focus will be to help district commanders and their officers reduce crime in their areas. Along with the shifting of narcotics officers, Bouyelas said he expects to roll out more initiatives in the next few months.

“I do not think these guys can work harder. But they can work more efficiently,” said Bouyelas, who joined the force in 1983 and previously served under two operations chiefs. “This is all about more boots on the streets and getting creative in ways to use officers.” …

While this kind of enforcement has been criticized in the past as targeting low-level offenders, who even if convicted in court won’t end up with substantial prison sentences, Bouyelas said that thoughtful street policing can lead to bigger busts.

The strategy succeeded in the 2nd District last year, where a team created by Bouyelas developed solid confidential informants who made “controlled buys” from dealers within drug houses, he said. Police were eventually able to come back with search warrants and arrest multiple people, helping clean up crime hot spots that developed after the storm, he said.

The major case narcotics division, aimed at tackling midlevel and “kingpin” drug dealers, will still operate, but with fewer officers. At some point, when recruitment returns the NOPD to its full strength of about 1,700 officers, the major-case narcotics team will be beefed up again, Bouyelas said.

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Man freed by judge gets 25 years in drug case
Thursday, June 26, 2008
From staff reports

A New Orleans drug dealer who was released from jail by a former Criminal District Court judge — despite having a cache of weapons, drugs and $186,000 in his home when arrested — was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison on Wednesday.

Brian Expose, 35, had pleaded guilty to five drug-trafficking and gun charges last fall. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier.

Following his March 2006 arrest by the New Orleans Police Department, Expose became a prime example of the questionable release practices of former state Judge Charles Elloie, who released Expose on his own recognizance within 24 hours after the raid on his Algiers house.

Elloie retired from the bench last year after he was indefinitely suspended by the Louisiana Supreme Court in fall 2006, in part because of his practices of lowering bond for suspects, including for violent criminals.

No death for child rapists, court says
by Paul Purpura, The Times-Picayune
Wednesday June 25, 2008, 10:16 PM

Executing child rapists is cruel and unusual punishment, a divided U.S. Supreme Court decided Wednesday in overturning a Jefferson Parish death sentence and declaring as unconstitutional Louisiana’s 1995 aggravated rape statute that allows the death penalty when victims are younger than 13.

The 5-4 decision also invalidates similar laws in five other states and prohibits the death penalty in crimes in which the victim does not die. The court left intact the death penalty for crimes against the state, such as espionage and terrorism.

The high court handed down its ruling in the case of Patrick Kennedy, 43, who was convicted and sentenced to die five years ago for raping an 8-year-old relative in his Harvey home in March 1998. Removed from death row, Kennedy now faces a mandatory life sentence in prison, another penalty for aggravated rape of a child younger than 13.

“The court has simply said crimes against individuals, where there’s no homicide or no homicide intended, the death penalty is simply inappropriate,” said New Orleans capital appeals attorney and death penalty opponent Denise LeBoeuf.

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Orleans Parish gets new facility to book offenders
by Laura Maggi, The Times-Picayune
Wednesday June 25, 2008, 6:08 AM

JENNIFER ZDON / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE Sheriff Marlin Gusman walks around the intake and holding center for the Orleans Parish Sheriff Department Monday, June 23, 2008 with Col. Jerry Ursin. A view of the main holding and processing area.

Replacing the outmoded Central Lock-Up that first opened to Orleans Parish inmates in 1966, Criminal Sheriff Marlin Gusman today will unveil a $4.5 million facility to book people arrested in New Orleans. …

Hurricane Katrina ruined the Intake Processing Center on Perdido Street, which before the storm had replaced the Central Lock-Up on the ground floor of the House of Detention. When that building was demolished, Gusman was forced to move his staff back into the old facility.

Working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Gusman decided to build a new lock-up, renovating the Orleans Parish Prison’s kitchen facility across the street from the House of Detention. The building is temporary, until a permanent processing center can be built in a wing of new jail facilities planned by the Sheriff’s Office, Gusman said.

The old Central Lock-Up, which was put back in use for more than two years, was cramped and outdated — too small to handle the influx of people arrested by the New Orleans Police Department.

The new facility, which opened last week, has large holding cells for men and women arrested for serious crimes, as well as some solitary units. Low-level offenders are allowed to sit in an open-seating area in the middle of the building while they are processed into the jail’s system or wait for somebody to arrive with bail money. An automatic teller machine is available for people able to pay their own bond.

Col. Gerry Ursin, a former NOPD officer hired by Gusman to run the Intake Processing Center, said each inmate will be given a wrist band with a bar code and photograph. As the inmate moves through the facility, the wrist band will be scanned, he said.

“This helps us track everybody,” Gusman said. “We can know where everybody is at every instance.”

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Off-duty escort work of St. Bernard, NOPD officers subject of probe
by Laura Maggi and Bob Warren, The Times-Picayune
Tuesday June 24, 2008, 9:45 PM

Officers within the New Orleans Police Department and St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office traffic divisions are the subjects of a federal investigation into required off-duty police escorts of oversized vehicles traveling within their parishes.

Bob Young, the head of the NOPD’s public information office, said Superintendent Warren Riley is “aware of the investigation and has been cooperating with the federal government in their investigation.”

Young said he understood that “a couple” of NOPD officers have received subpoenas to appear before a federal grand jury in New Orleans.

The federal probe stems from a complaint filed with the inspector general’s office of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security about police escorts required for FEMA trailers being removed from the two parishes, said St. Bernard Parish Sheriff Jack Stephens.

“We are working with them to determine if there are any irregularities with those escorts,” Stephens said.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten declined to comment about any federal investigation or grand jury probe.

In both St. Bernard and Orleans parishes, police escorts are required by local rules that mandate that the drivers of vehicles with oversized loads pay for the police to direct them through the parish.

Off-duty officers in both St. Bernard and Orleans parishes take their payment for the escort work directly from the driver, often in cash, said people who have used the service. Both departments require the escorts not only on local roads, but also on the federal highway, according to several representatives of manufactured-housing companies.

Stephens said his officers receive $100 for their work, which can be paid by either cash or check. NOPD officers also receive $100, according to people who have made the payments. …

Sgt. Don Kelly, a spokesman for the Baton Rouge Police Department, said escorts are not required on either Interstate 10 or Interstate 12 as they pass through that city. But if an oversized vehicle gets off the highway, it is required to be escorted by a motorcycle detail of at least one off-duty officer, he said. Escorts in Baton Rouge cost $200 regardless of how many officers are needed.

When companies apply to the state DOTD for a permit to move an oversized load, the agency tells drivers that they will likely need a police escort on local roads in New Orleans, St. Bernard Parish, Jefferson Parish, Baton Rouge and Shreveport, said Dustin Annison, a spokesman for the agency.

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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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Judge Seeber Bridge repairs under way
by John McCusker, The Times-Picayune
Saturday June 21, 2008, 1:45 PM

Workers install a new motor which will power a metal traffic barrier on the Judge Seeber Bridge over the Industrial Canal in the ninth ward. The long-broken barriers contributed to the accident in which a veteran NOPD officer plunged to his death. The repairs will take a couple of days.

Related:

Police, family pay respects to officer
Felix lauded for bravery, dedication
Thursday, May 29, 2008
By Laura Maggi, The Times-Picayune

At an emotional funeral service, members of the New Orleans Police Department on Wednesday remembered Detective Tommie Felix as a devoted police officer who always took it upon himself to go after the bad guys, even if it meant risking his life.

Detective Gabriel Favaroth, a longtime friend who attended the NOPD police academy with Felix, called him a beloved prankster, but one who could balance levity with serious police business.

“If we had one (Tommie) in each district, the world would be a better place,” said Favaroth, who choked up during his eulogy, remembering his friend and former partner.

Felix, who joined the department in 1991, died early in the morning on May 20 when his car plummeted into the Industrial Canal because of a series of mechanical and operational breakdowns at the Claiborne Avenue drawbridge.

His death marks the fourth death in the past seven months within NOPD ranks. Officer Nicola Cotton was killed in late January after a confrontation with a man in a parking lot. Sgt. Thelonious Dukes died a month after he was shot by a robber during what police have described as a home invasion. Rookie officer Matthew Schmit was killed in a car accident in December, just a few days after graduating from the police academy.

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March honors fallen officer
by Molly Reid, The Times-Picayune
Saturday June 21, 2008, 10:45 AM

More than 70 marchers are making their way from City Hall to a Central City elementary school to protest street violence and honor fallen New Orleans police officer Nicola Cotton, who was killed January in the line of duty.

After a brief prayer, the marchers set off from City Hall down Loyola Avenue, with several children holding a banner proclaiming “Youth Against Violence.”

When they reach their destination — Mahalia Jackson Elementary on Jackson Avenue — the group will dedicate a playground erected by the nonprofit builder KaBOOM! in Cotton’s memory.

“We want children to learn other ways to solve conflict,” said Travis Lyons, founder of Central City Youth Against Violence, which organized the march.

Cotton, who was 24 when she died, “was one of the people who mentored the kids on the street,” Lyons said. “If she saw them out, she ran them off, got them off the corners. And she was young. She was just a kid herself.”

Saturday’s event marked the Central City organization’s ninth annual non-violence march. In addition to members from several community groups, including the Central City Partnership and the Central City Comeback Committee, City Council members Stacy Head and James Carter participated in the march.

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Governor extends Guard’s N.O. stay
Soldiers to patrol areas through end of the year
Friday, June 20, 2008
By Laura Maggi
The Times-Picayune

National Guard troops will remain in New Orleans until the end of the year to help police officers patrol the less populated areas of the city, Gov. Bobby Jindal announced Thursday.

“We know part of encouraging people to come back and rebuild their homes and businesses is having confidence in the security,” Jindal said a news conference with NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley and Mayor Ray Nagin.

Currently 360 Louisiana Guard soldiers patrol New Orleans. Gov. Kathleen Blanco first sent the troops in the summer of 2006 after a spate of murders and an uptick in other crime after Hurricane Katrina. The soldiers have been deployed in the New Orleans Police Department’s 3rd, 5th and 7th Districts, which include most of the flooded areas of the city, from Lakeview to eastern New Orleans to the 9th Ward.

The soldiers were set to leave next month, until Jindal decided to extend their tour at the request of Riley and Nagin. Jindal granted an extension after taking office in January, as Blanco had repeatedly done when she was governor.

The state spends about $1 million each month to keep the complement of Guard soldiers in New Orleans.

Jindal emphasized that the number of soldiers will be reduced in the coming months. About 320 soldiers will be kept through July and August, the hottest summer months when crime typically spikes in New Orleans. Some troops will be pulled out of the city in September, when 260 soldiers will remain, said Maj. Gen. Bennett Landreneau, the head of the Louisiana Guard. The troop strength will decrease again in November to 216 soldiers, who will continue to patrol until Dec. 31, he said.

The Police Department, meanwhile, has launched a $1 million campaign to recruit more officers. The money for that campaign also came from the state, as well as some private money.

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