Anonymous NOPD survey reveals a department in turmoil
6th October 2014 · 0 Comments
An anonymous survey that was recently taken by 450 members of the embattled New Orleans Police Department — nearly half of the undermanned department’s personnel — offers a rare glimpse into the hearts and minds of the men and women charged with the important task of making New Orleans a safe place to live and visit.
The 95-question survey, the first of three such surveys, was administered by NOPD consent-decree federal monitor Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton over the past three months and was presented to the public in September.
NOPD responded who participated in the survey reportedly ranged in age from 24 to 67 and had been on the force from one year to 45 years. of the 450 respondents, 200 were officers, 50 were detectives59 were sergeants, 28 were lieutenants or captains and 14 were commanders.
Sheppard Mullin reported that nearly 100 respondents declined to reveal their rank in the NOPD.
The survey reveals a police force that is still suffering fro low department morale in the wake of the recent post-Katrina NOPD murder trials and the ongoing implementation of the federally mandated consent decree, A majority of those who took the survey believe residents don’t appreciate their efforts as law enforcement officers, that NOPD officers are not treated Impartially by internal investigators and that the department does not provide them with the tools and equipment they need to do their jobs.
About 70 percent of the respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed when asked if they thought the NOPD is better today than it was three years ago — about the time that the City of New Orleans began its NOPD consent-decree negotiations with the U.S. Department of Justice.
“Importantly, more than half (54.2 percent) of the officers said they would not be satisfied with police services if they lived in their district,” Sheppard Mullin wrote in its report. “Similarly, more than half of the officers say that police services are either fair (34.1 percent or poor (22.9) percent.”
The survey also revealed that:
• 87 percent of the respondents believe that New Orleans residents do not understand the difficulties NOPD officers face
• 75 percent said that the NOPD does not provide them with the quality equipment needed to do their jobs
• 75 percent did not believe that internal investigations of civilian complaints are fair or that the Public Integrity Bureau investigations treat them fairly
• 54 of the respondents said they don’t believe residents appreciate the work that the NOPD does
• 75 percent of respondents said they did not believe that former NOPD Supt. Ronal Serpas was leading the NOPD in the right direction
• 83 percent said that officers are seldom rewarded for doing a good job
• 66 percent said that the NOPD could do a better job if elected officials did not interfere.
“We will use this survey data and others as a guide as we continue to implement important reforms that we believe will ensure a positive work environment for current and future officers,” Interim NOPD Supt. Michael Harrison said in a statement.
In its third quarter report, Sheppard Mullin wrote that it “has observed continued misunderstanding and confusion among police officers” about the new off-duty detail system but added that it has witnessed “increased acceptance” of the new system among officers.
Donovan Livaccari, an attorney representing the local Fraternal Order of Police, told The Advocate that the federal monitors are being less than truthful, noting that less than 25 percent of the police force have worked details under the new system.
“There’s disenchantment and distrust,” Livaccari said. “I would say there’s a very long way to go.”
Those remarks echoed the findings of Sheppard Mullin’s report issued earlier this summer that said the NOPD still has “a long way to go” before satisfying the requirements of its 492-point consent decree in order to become compliant with federal standards of constitutional policing.
In other NOPD-related news, local elected officials announced Tuesday that the City of New Orleans has been awarded a $1.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to hire 15 community police officers to patrol the streets of the French Quarter and free up NOPD officers to patrol other parts of the city.
The grant will fund the city’s Community Oriented Policing Services, an initiative announced by the Landrieu administration this summer after a gun battle left one woman dead and nine others on Bourbon Street wounded.
“The 15 officers hired by this COPS grant will help support the department’s violent crime come initiatives and its commitment to community policing,” Landrieu said Tuesday.
Additional reporting by Louisiana Weekly editor Edmund W. Lewis.
This article originally published in the October 6, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
