Undermanned NOPD loses additional officers to La. State Police
8th September 2015 · 0 Comments
At a time when the undermanned NOPD is payday loans in saint paul mn desperately seeking to reverse the trend that is causing it to continue to lose officers faster than it can replace them, it is now losing veteran officers, recent additions and potential NOPD recruits to the Louisiana State Police.
Ironically, it has been the Louisiana State Police who have stepped forward to lend support to the understaffed NOPD in the French Quarter and other parts of the city as the city’s police department continues to struggle to bolster its ranks.
Since a high-profile shooting on Bourbon Street in June of 2014 that wounded nine and left one woman dead, the state troopers have increased their numbers in New Orleans and added extra support for special events like Mardi Gras, the Essence Festival and the Bayou Classic.
WWL News reported last week that while 50 state troopers are working alongside NOPD officers to keep French Quarter visitors, employees and residents safe, the statewide law enforcement agency has become one of the NOPD’s biggest competitors for new recruits.
The LSP’s latest cadet class kicked off its training Aug. 30 with 81 members, including seven officers lured away from the NOPD, WWL reported.
Meanwhile, the NOPD was budgeted to add 150 new officers last year but was unable to do so and currently has about 1,100 officers in a city that the Landrieu administration says needs 1,600 officers to keep it safe. Its current number of officers represents a four-decade low and has led to slower response times for residents seeking police assistance and a noticeably lower police presence on the streets of New Orleans.
According to WWL, the former NOPD officers who are part of the LSP’s latest crop of cadets include a 27-year veteran and a 2014 recruit who only recently completed field training.
Former NOPD Lt. Michael Mims, the 27-year veteran, had reportedly been mulling retirement when he decided to apply for a post with the Louisiana State Police. The dent of the Fall 2014 NOPD recruit class.
Police Association of New Orleans President Michael Glasser told WWL that the departures undermine the city’s full-court press in recruiting new officers.
“You can obviously hire as many as you want, but if they don’t stay you’ve wasted your time and energy. All you did was train someone for someone else,” Glasser said.
The seven former NOPD officers are part of a Louisiana State Police cadet class of 81 officers that include 32 cadets who were officers lured away from agencies, according to state police records. The sheriff’s offices in Jefferson, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes each lost one deputy, as did police departments in Kenner and Westwego, WWL reported.
The Louisiana Department of Probation and Parole, which lost three officers, was reportedly the only other list of pay day loan lenders department to lose more than one officer.
This year was not the first time LSP has been able to persuade NOPD officers to join its ranks.
State Police Cadet Class No. 93, launched last November, also included seven NOPD officers,WWL reported.
The most recent defections came after a recent announcement of pay raises for NOPD officers and efforts by the City of New Orleans to convince the U.S. Department of Justice to not prevent the NOPD from hiring greater numbers of officers at such a crucial time,
The 15 percent NOPD pay raises pale in comparison to a recent 20 percent pay hike for state troopers and what is generally viewed as better working conditions.
Starting pay for NOPD officers is $38,434 compared with a beginning salary of $46,608 for state troopers.
Glasser and others told WWL that it’s not just a higher starting salary that’s convincing an increasing number of NOPD officers to jump ship. Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission and a former cop, said the department has to closely examine variables such as equipment and working conditions.
“We’ve seen pay raise after pay raise after pay raise given to the New Orleans Police Department, and we still haven’t made any headway in replacing the officers that have left,” Goyeneche told WWL. “Apparently it’s not just the pay, it’s because of the working environment.”
Goyeneche said the NOPD’s manpower is spread thin, forcing officers to work harder and spend longer hours playing catch-up with a backlog of cases while under constant scrutiny during the implementation of the federally mandated NOPD consent decree,
In an open letter to the mayor earlier this year, a police union representative listed these issues and others like the changes made to the off-duty paid detail system as the source of officer dissatisfaction and low morale. The letter, written shortly after NYPD officers infamously turned their backs on NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, accused the Landrieu administration of turning his back on NOPD officers.
Glasser told WWL that body-worn cameras only add to what is already a stressful work environment for NOPD officers and has many of them walking on eggshells.
NOPD Supt. Michael Harrison, a 23-year veteran, told WWL that he does not like seeing good officers leave the department, for any reason. He said he often speaks to those who submit resignations to find out why, and if appropriate, try to get them to reconsider.
Harrison said the most important thing the NOPD can do to prevent future officer defections is improve working conditions in the police department.
“What we want to do is just build the police department that makes people want to stay, that makes people want to join unsecured loans belfast our ranks. Then we want to build a department that makes people regret leaving us,” Harrison said.
Those defections —due to everything from low pay, low officer morale, changes in the off-duty paid detail system and the federally mandated consent decree — are largely responsible for the fact that the NOPD continues to lose officers faster than it can replace them.
In a story that aired on Feb 27, 2014, WDSU News reported that the city’s understaffed police department had lost more than 499 officers between 2010 and 2014.
While a Fraternal Order of Police spokesperson described those departures as “critical,” the former police chief downplayed the trend.
“You are always going to have people separate every year there is nothing new about that,” then NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas told WDSU.
The former police chief did acknowledge the role changes to the off-duty paid detail system have played in NOPD officer departures.
“Yeah, it’s a big hurdle. It’s a big difference. We are changing 50 years of history in this police department in the paid detail realm,” Serpas said.
NOPD officials told WDSU that the NOPD doesn’t track officers once they leave the force and that exit interviews are optional.
The news station did manage to confirm that a significant number of former NOPD are finding work in law enforcement agencies in surrounding parishes.
“They are applying to Mandeville, St Bernard, Plaquemines, St. Tammany, Franklinton, Covington, Houma and Tangipahoa,” Burkhart told WDSU.
WDSU checked with several neighboring departments. WDSU submitted more than a dozen public records requests with law enforcement agencies in neighboring parishes and made the following discoveries:
“Three former NOPD officers are in the current state police class. It is the first one they have had in years. Four have been hired in St. Tammany Parish, and 12 have applied in the last four years. Plaquemines Parish has hired one former NOPD officer.
“The Slidell Police Department had one former NOPD officer on a temporary basis but have had 15-20 applicants from NOPD officers in recent months.
“Jefferson has hired 10 former NOPD officers in the last six months alone with even more on the way. Dozens more have applied.
“Some officers are taking work in the private sector, starting their own security companies or going back to school.”
The NOPD reportedly lost 120 officers last year and added 76.
The NOPD’s manpower woes continue in 2015 with the department’s numbers dwindling to about 1,100 officers. In order to provide adequate safety during Carnival season this year, the city received additional help from state troopers, deputy sheriffs from two parishes, retired NOPD officers and campus police from online loans for commission earners Tulane University and the University of New Orleans.
In the months that followed, the NOPD’s efforts to bolster recruitment were aided by the City Council’s decision to relax the city’s residency rule that required NOPD officers, firefighters and EMS workers to live in Orleans Parish and a decision by the Civil Service Commission to do away with the requirement that NOPD recruits have completed at least 60 hours of college credit.
The NOPD also began to offer bonuses to veteran officers who successfully recruited new officers.
As a result of those measures, as well as a recruitment blitz at several New Orleans churches and universities, the NOPD reported a major increase in the number of people seeking information about employment opportunities with the department.
The mayor and police chief welcomed 29 members of Recruit Class #172 to the NOPD Wednesday. The recruits started training in January 2015 and underwent 26 weeks of intensive training at the NOPD Training Academy, including 965 hours of Peace Officer Standards and Training Council (POST) certified training. This is the third recruit class to graduate under Superintendent Harrison.
“Our priority is to recruit and hire the most qualified applicants to join this department and this class is among the best,” said NOPD Supt. Michael Harrison. “I visited with these dedicated men and women throughout their training and I know firsthand the commitment they have made to public safety and New Orleans. Every single one of these recruits stuck through the training from start to finish. I am proud of the work they’ve put into their career so far and I am confident they are ready to serve. We will continue to work aggressively every day to grow this department with quality men and women who have a strong desire to serve this community.”
“We are committed to developing a more robust police department and will continue to recruit the best and brightest to protect our city,” New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said.. “We congratulate the men and women of Class #172, who are dedicating their lives to ensure public safety. I am grateful for their sacrifice and determination, and I look forward to continuing to move this department forward.”
Members of Class #172 joined the force from the Greater New Orleans region as well as from cities across the U.S. including, Huffman and San Antonio, TX, Algonquin, IL, Chesapeake, MD, Kenyon, MN, and Lowell, MA.
The recruits have been assigned to district stations across the city and partnered with an experienced NOPD officer, known as a Field Training Officer (FTO). The FTO will mentor the recruits through 16 weeks of field training.
This article originally published in the September 7, 2015 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
