Former NOPD Supt. Richard Pennington dies

Richard Pennington, a former NOPD superintendent credited with turning around a troubled police department and a former New Orleans mayoral candidate, passed away Thursday, May 4, in Georgia at the age of 70.

Prior to being tapped by New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial to head the troubled New Orleans Police Department just prior to a major scandal involving a cop, Len Davis, who put a hit on a civilian in the Lower Ninth Ward, Penning served as Washington, DC’s police commander.

PENNINGTON

Despite becoming superintendent of a police department that saw two of its own officers sent to death row in a city known as the nation’s “murder capital,” Pennington rose up to the challenge and put the NOPD back on track during his eight years at the helm. Although he was not a New Orleans native, Pennington is widely regarded as the best NOPD superintendent in modern history.

After turning around the NOPD, Pennington entered the New Orleans mayoral race in 2002, losing to New Orleans businessman Ray Nagin.

Shortly thereafter, Pennington moved to Atlanta, Ga. to serve as the city’s police chief, a post he held until his retirement in 2010.

On the same day that Pennington was sworn in as NOPD superintendent, Officer Len Davis ordered a hit on Kim Groves, who had filed a brutality complaint against Davis after seeing him assault a teenager. FBI investigators were listening in on and recording the phone call ordering the hit but didn’t have time to respond in enough time to save Groves’ life.

During Pennington’s second year at the helm of the NOPD, Officer Antoinette Frank and her partner were charged in a multiple-murder at an eastern New Orleans restaurant.

During his first year, 1994, New Orleans witnessed 421 homicides. By 1999, the murder total had been whittled down to 159.

Morial gives Pennington major credit for turning things around.

“He was unflinching in his willingness to discipline police officers for violations of codes of conduct,” Morial said. “The department had a history of looking the other way, slapping the officers on the wrist. Chief Pennington was going to discipline and fire the officer if they ran afoul.”

“He was a transformational leader… an agent of change, and the community really, really loved him,” current NOPD Supt. Michael Harrison said.

This article originally published in the May 8, 2017 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.