The federal judge overseeing the New Orleans Police Department's efforts to comply with a Justice Department consent decree has ordered Mayor LaToya Cantrell's administration to provide details of the internal investigation into Officer Jeffrey Vappie, a member of the mayor's bodyguard team.
The NOPD Public Integrity Bureau spent months investigating Vappie for alleged payroll irregularities. The investigation resulted in no discipline, and Vappie was reinstated to the mayor's executive protection team.
NOLA.com reports U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan issued to the city a "rule to show cause" to show why she should not find eight violations of the consent decree, among them, paperwork on an abandoned attempt to return Vappie to the mayor's detail in December, before the PIB investigation was complete.
This comes as the Cantrell administration attempts to end the consent decree, often complaining that the federal government has altered the conditions of the deal.
Federal monitors say the goals remain the same, and say the city has regressed in its progress to meet the terms of the decree.
