The latest scandal surrounding Mayor LaToya Cantrell and one of her security guards has some local leaders calling for the NOPD's federal monitor to launch an investigation.
The New Orleans Police Department is already looking into the amount of hours that security guard claimed he worked while protecting Mayor Cantrell. That investigation comes after a WVUE-TV report showed surveillance video of the mayor and the bodyguard entering the city-owned Pontalba Apartment at all times of the day and staying there for extended periods of time.
"Councilmember Morrell and I . . . wrote the federal monitor because we have concerns primarly for process here," Councilman Joe Giarusso told WWL's Tommy Tucker.
It's a sentiment echoed by Metropolitan Crime Commission head Rafael Goyaneche.
"The problem with the police department's internal affairs or public integrity bureau conducting the invesitgation is that the mayor's involved in this," Goyaneche told Tucker. "She essentially would be a fact witness that would have to be interviewed in this. The officer under investigation is assigned to her detail for security. So it puts the police department in an untenable situation."
But will the feds get involved? Giarusso said it's unlikely.
"What the judge's office said was, number one: They didn't think the police monitor didn't have enough staff to do it," Giarusso said.
Still, Giarusso said the police monitor could step in later.
"Even though the federal monitor can't investigate, they certainly can review whatever the NOPD internally finds," Giarusso said.
