A federal judge has placed the New Orleans Police Department on a two-year sustainment plan, which could be the first step to being clear of a reform agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice for the first time in 12 years.
U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan made her ruling January 14. Morgan also rejected a push by New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell to remove the NOPD from under the consent decree immediately. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and Gov. Jeff Landry also endorsed Cantrell’s idea.
Morgan’s decision came a day after a hearing in which NOPD and DOJ officials said the department was on the right path under the consent decree.
Following a 2011 DOJ report that said the NOPD had issues ranging from corruption to bias to unconstitutional practices, the DOJ placed the NOPD under the consent decree. That plan was common under the DOJ during the Obama era as a way to push for local police reform.
For years, the city has been pushing to end the consent decree, saying the NOPD has met or exceeded the benchmarks set by the feds.
Before Tuesday’s ruling, Murrill and Landry issued a joint statement saying it was “time to end NOPD’s consent decree and return control of policing to the city.”
“The brave men and women who serve in the NOPD deserve recognition for the hard work and commitment to this community that they have demonstrated over the last decade,” the statement read, adding the pair believed the consent decree “that continues to require federal judicial oversight of the New Orleans Police Department had become an expensive bureaucracy that was detrimental to the central mission of the NOPD.”
“Even though it is abundantly clear that the NOPD has substantially complied with its obligations under the agreement, and many of these matters are not in dispute, the department has not been relieved of oversight of a single provision in the 12 years since the court first approved the decree,” the statement continues. “The taxpayers of Orleans Parish have spent millions of dollars, and the top brass of the NOPD have spent countless hours in federal court instead of working at their desks or patrolling the streets of New Orleans to fight crime.
“In fact, during the pendency of this decree, recruiting has suffered, crime has risen, and New Orleans joined the top ten most dangerous cities in the country.”
Murrill and Landry said the city has a right to have its motion to terminate the decree decided.
“That is why the attorney general has agreed to help represent the city in court so that the city can get a ruling on its motion to terminate before binding itself to new or continuing obligations,” the statement continued. “Since the city has substantially complied with the decree, there is absolutely no legal reason for a new agreement like the proposed plan.
“The governor and the attorney general stand with the City of New Orleans and are committed to protecting the city’s right to regain control of NOPD. We need the NOPD to be relieved from this burdensome decree."