After 13 years, the consent decree placed on the New Orleans Police Department by the Department of Justice might be coming to an end. A gradual end.
The consent decree, which began in 2011, was initiated after a massive report by the DOJ found patterns of discrimination, violence, corruption, and brutality. What it brought on was an intense wave of audits, training, and reporting.
However, on January 8th, District Judge Susie Morgan will make a decision to end the decree and enter a two-year sustainment period, otherwise known as an oversight phase. This phase would include fewer audits and fewer mandated tasks and training.
So what does this mean for the New Orleans Police Department? And how do the rank-and-file police officers feel about the change?
Today Tommy Tucker interviewed Michael Glasser, President of the Police Association of New Orleans (PANO).
From the officer's standpoint, Glasser stated, “A lot of people have misconceptions about what this means. The bottom line is this: The federal oversight is going to be significantly reduced. It doesn't change what we do. It doesn't change the rules we follow. The consent decree, and all the paragraphs in it, are embedded in our regulations and in our rules. The only thing that is going to change is the oversight.”
Gasser likens the changes to caring for a vehicle, explaining how a car needs care to run properly, but doesn’t need constant monitoring.
Glasser explains, “You have a car, and you check the tire pressure. You check the fluids. You check the brakes. You check the steering…But you don’t need to pull out a tire gauge every time you get in the car. You check it periodically or if there’s a clear problem.”
The PANO president explained how the decree became burdensome, saying, “We have so much oversight that we don’t have the ability to function. It’s labor-intensive to get that accomplished. And that’s what’s been problematic about the consent decree. What the sustainment period means is simply this: We’ll have things checked periodically and randomly or if there’s a problem. Other than that we now check ourselves.”
Finally, Glasser also explained how NOPD turnover has grown since the decree went into place, explaining that now there are hardly members of the force who remember what the department was like before 2011.
Glasser explained, “We’re labor challenged. We have around 850 cops that are on the street. We should have double that. We’re working hard to do these things and it’ll be good to unleash that burden for a while.”
