Judge ends 12 years of federal oversight for NOPD
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NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick speaks to the judge about the progress the department has made under the federal consent decree. Image: Screenshot via consent decree monitor's livestream
The New Orleans Police Department is on its own after a judge Wednesday ended 12 years of federal oversight.
Why it matters: It's an important milestone for an agency once considered among the worst in the country.
The big picture: U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan granted the city and DOJ's request to end the federal consent decree, saying NOPD has reached "substantial compliance."
- "The NOPD is a transformed agency and serves as a national model for other agencies in many respects," she said, while noting there's more work to be done.
- NOPD Chief Anne Kirkpatrick likened graduating from the consent decree to getting a prize at the end of a 12-year marathon.
- At the end of the hearing, she hugged the judge and made her an honorary NOPD officer.
Zoom in: The consent decree monitor's office, led by Jonathan Aronie, issued its final report Wednesday, which includes an optional road map for NOPD to follow going forward.
- "The monitoring team has no crystal ball that tells us whether the NOPD will continue its journey or backslide," Aronie told the court, "but we have many reasons for optimism."
- What gives him the most confidence, he says, is seeing that the reforms of the past decade have been just "as good for the officers as they have been for the community."
Zoom out: Oversight is now up to officials and the community, Morgan and Aronie said.
- The City Council turned many of the key elements in the decree into city law last week.
- Other policies, like immigration enforcement and vehicle pursuits, are handled internally.
- Plus, NOPD's internal Public Integrity Bureau and the city-funded Independent Police Monitor will still take public complaints.
The vibe: The hearing at Loyola was standing-room-only, with Kirkpatrick in the front row, the livestream showed.
- Three of the four other superintendents during the consent decree era were there too. Watch the replay.
- Outside, about 25 protesters chanted and called for community oversight, according to the Times-Picayune.
Catch up quick: The consent decree is a formal process for federal oversight of the police department until certain benchmarks are met.
- The city, NOPD and the U.S. Department of Justice entered the agreement in 2013 to ensure that NOPD's services "improve public safety, increase public confidence, and protect the constitutional rights of all citizens," according to the federal monitor's website.
- It came after former Mayor Mitch Landrieu requested the DOJ look into the department following deaths of unarmed civilians in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the AP reported.
- NOPD agreed to the decree as a way to "fundamentally change the way it polices" after that investigation found reasonable cause to believe the department had a pattern of excessive force, discriminatory policing and unconstitutional stops, searches and seizures.