Disaster in NOPD Officer Retention.

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  • JBP55

    La. CHP Instructor #409
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    Disaster in New Orleans: Police Association president warns against officer furloughs, mass resignations and civilian task force
    December 13, 2020

    NEW ORLEANS, LA – The city that’s known as The Big Easy is currently facing some big problems after the mass exodus of more than 100 law enforcement officers. Now, city officials are scrambling to make up for the drastic loss in officers with a citizen task force.

    Previously, Law Enforcement Today provided exclusive reporting on the high rate of officers leaving the New Orleans Police Department. An anonymous officer with the department divulged that local officials have attempted to ignore policing issues, causing scores of officers to leave the NOPD:

    “They want to minimize everything and, kind of, push it under the table and wish that it never resurfaces. The last I heard, we got about a little over 100 officers leaving.”
    Later, the LET informant stated that the department’s recruitment efforts cannot keep up with the departure of officers:
    “Prior to this we were averaging two to three people leaving a week, and that was pretty consistent over the last several years. So, the attrition numbers are definitely beating out the recruitment.”

    But mass resignation is not the only issue the department is facing. The NOPD officers who are choosing to brave the poor working conditions are being met with a cut to working hours and pay. In addition, the department suspended overtime pay in May as the pandemic was in full force.
    “The city has also forced officers to take an unpaid day off every pay period. The forced time off will continue throughout 2021 and equates to a month of lost income for officers. These harsh developments have caused officers to leave the department in search of better treatment.”
    This is an especially frightening reality due to the city’s massive increase in homicide rates. The Metropolitan Crime Commission, an independent watchdog group, reported an 87% increase in homicides from 2019 to 2020.

    This marks the first time in four years that murder rates have gone up. As of Dec. 12, there have been 190 murders in the city.
    It goes without saying, it is going to be even more difficult to do when crime is doubling and tripling and you’re expected to keep on keeping on and they are. The men and women are working very hard, but they can only do so much in eight hours.”

    “We reached out to the city for a response and the NOPD sent us a statement that the furloughs are having a minimal impact on the department and through intentional scheduling, there’s little to no impact on calls for service.”
    But the city’s subsequent actions indicate a different sentiment, and perhaps an indication of city officials’ fears. The Crescent City funds a civilian task force to deal with small crimes and traffic control in the city that is unbeholden to the same rules and regulations as the NOPD.

    According to the Office of Homeland Security, the New Orleans Grounds Patrol is tasked with a number of responsibilities, including “proactively patrolling assigned areas” and “providing physical security at municipal properties.”
    The city of New Orleans lists the duties of the Grounds Patrol officers as:

    Proactively patrolling assigned area(s) in a vehicle, on foot or by bicycle.
    Providing physical security at municipal properties or events to include access control, screening and other security services.
    Responding to alarms, emergency call-box activations, and suspicious activity complaints in assigned area.
    Operation of the French Quarter bollard system.
    Completion of incident reports
    Assisting other public safety agencies and departments.
    Conducting safety escorts
    Opening and securing facilities
    Provide information, directions and assistance to residents and visitors

    But, officers are not enthralled by the prospect of uncertified civilians policing the city. In a statement posted to Facebook, Mike Glasser, president of the Police Association of New Orleans, argued that the Grounds Patrol is simply a remake of past failed task forces.
    Glasser first reflected on the unsuccessful predecessor of the Grounds Patrol:
    “In addition to being a candidate pool for NOPD, they were expected to free up the short-staffed NOPD by handling traffic direction, minor traffic accidents, citations, code enforcement, low level ‘incidents,’ parking tickets and quality of life issues. However, there were a few flaws in the logic.”

    The PANO president then delved into the issues regarding the duties of the civilian task force:
    “First, there were not then, and are not now, any NOPD officers whose duty assignments include traffic direction. The NOPD just doesn’t do that unless it’s around an accident/incident scene. If you see NOPD officers directing traffic, it’s a paid detail, not a duty assignment.
    “More importantly, Louisiana state law stipulates only POST certified law enforcement officers can supersede traffic signs & law, issue citations, or investigate & document traffic crashes.
    Since NOLA-Patrol were civilian and not POST certified, they could not legally perform those tasks. The public and financiers were misled.”

    Glasser further took apart the program:
    “So how about the Code Enforcement and Quality of Life issues? Well, just how much Code Enforcement do we need? There are already city employees who do Code Enforcement and we all know the Department of Streets ‘meter maids’ who write parking tickets. Do we really need more? Is that where the French Quarter problems lie?”
    He concluded his analysis into the NOLA-Patrol by dubbing it a “total failure”:
    “So a short time later what did we have? They never could do the traffic duties (it was illegal). And never did need the extra Code Enforcement or Q of L issues reporting.
    They were not POST (Louisiana Police Officer Standards & Training) certified so they couldn’t make arrests. And, only one NOLA-Patrol employee actually joined NOPD. But he quit.
    In short, eventually NOLA-Patrol was abolished as a total failure, after squandering $1M in funding. So how about the remake?”

    Glasser then explained that the issues the new task force will encounter will be the exact same:
    The PANO president also stated that the task force will have the ability to circumvent the U.S. Department of Justice-mandated Consent Decree, which governs NOPD officers:
    “Except now directed by LaToya Cantrell, they will not be under the direction of the NOPD, they will be under Homeland Security, where they can be issued Special Officer permits to carry weapons and circumvent the POST requirements that real police officers must meet.

    “Know what else they circumvent? The Consent Decree. Because the Consent Decree governs NOPD. It does not govern Homeland Security. Oddly, the city brags about the progress the NOPD has made via the Consent Decree but now wants to create an armed group to function outside the Consent Decree in the French Quarter.”
    He then stated that the French Quarter is set to lose 32 more officers in 2021.

    “As of January 1, 2021, New Orleans loses the (Louisiana State Police) Troop N, and the 32 full-time Louisiana State Troopers leave for parts unknown. Gone. Because of the mayor’s furlough, the NOPD is effectively reduced by 10%, which of course, includes the French Quarter.
    More POST certified cops gone from the street And, cops are leaving the NOPD at an alarming rate. Since Landrieu’s furlough plan in 2010 and his hiring freeze, the NOPD went from 1,600 commissioned POST Certified Officers to about 1,200.
    “In 10 years, and in spite of aggressive recruitment efforts, the NOPD either broke even in attrition every year since or gained a mere handful of officers. Today, the NOPD is somewhere around 1180, and it’s 40 officers less than it had last January.
    “Of those, over 80 are Limited Duty, meaning they cannot work the street for a variety of reasons. That means the NOPD is functioning with 1100 full duty officers, but remember, that number is operating under a furlough, effectively reducing that number even further by 10%.”

    Glasser said there is a silver lining to this dire situation, except that it, too, is in danger of being swallowed up by the city’s need to recoup lost revenue. In 2015, businessman Sidney Torres created the French Quarter Task Force, which has greatly helped to maintain safety in the French Quarter.
    The task force is run by “off-duty POST-certified NOPD officers” who patrol the area and respond to NOPD radio calls. Unfortunately, funding for the FQTF ends with the start of the new year.

    A quarter-cent sales tax that has funded the task force since 2015 was rejected by French Quarter residents on Dec. 5 and it will be discontinued Jan. 1.
    The FQTF would survive, for the time being, under a city proposal that would fund it. But, the PANO president claims, in exchange for funding, Mayor Cantrell wants two things. Glasser wrote:
    “She wants to control the money rather than the FQMD (French Quarter Management District), which has run it extremely well for the last 5 years, and she wants a substantial portion of the funding to go to….. Grounds Patrol !!!
    So at a time when crime is soaring, NOPD is shrinking, LSP is leaving, and the tourists are returning, the city wants to create the NOLA-Patrol all over again in the form of Grounds Patrol.”

    “Now why would that be a plan the mayor would support? Why not just fully fund and staff the successful Task Force, and keep it going under the FQMD as it has been? Why recreate another group of civilians just like the last hideously expensive and failed NOLA-Patrol? Why do that?”
    Glasser then claimed the mayor set these stipulations “because that’s the only way the mayor can get the money.”
    He explained further:
    “If it’s under city control, there’s nothing to keep that Grounds Patrol group intact as designed. It can be reduced or eliminated and the funding reallocated to wherever she wants.
    Simply put, Grounds Patrol is not an intelligent, viable, innovative protection and security plan for the Quarter. It’s a microwaved, reheated NOLA-Patrol designed only to draw funding from the only real protection the Quarter has aside from the reduced NOPD contingent there.

    “It’s a money grab, (plain) and simple, at the expense of the safety of the tourists, residents and business owners of the Quarter. The mayor will tell you her proposal will increase the French Quarter Task Force.
    And she’s right. It will. And that’s good. The part that’s not good is that the increase she’s offering isn’t nearly enough to offset the furlough she herself imposed on NOPD, and the loss of 32 LSP troopers.”
    New Orleans could be heading for a downfall due to poor leadership and lack of a coherent policing strategy. Now more than ever a strong police presence is needed, but it seems that local officials are not listening to policing experts and are looking only for solutions that have good optics in a defund-the-police environment.
     

    RedStickChick

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    It's not just law enforcement. There's about to be an exodus across the board with first responders.

    Also, a similar exodus is already happening with BRPD.
     

    noob

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    Well, that’s what the *people* wanted right? To get rid of the police, disrespect them, and put their lives at even more danger. And guess what? The wealthy can move to somewhere that will either support the police or somewhere with its on security. So when the number of drive by’s and house burglaries happen across the metro area, they have no one to blame besides themselves and the stupid mayor that can’t even balance her own check book, yet is somehow in charge of the cities!
     

    MetalVendor

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    New Orleans? More like New Detroit.
     

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    JBP55

    La. CHP Instructor #409
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    I used to say, ‘NOLA is a good place to visit, but I wouldn’t wanna live there’. I can no longer say that. Red stick is sinking by the day.

    Democrats have taken over New Orleans, Shreveport and Baton Rouge.
     

    Jstudz220

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    Harvey Louisiana
    New Orleans? More like New Detroit.
    Hahaha man that’s funny but sad. As a kid growing up I don’t ever remember my dad having to go make groceries with my mom and carry his gun with him just to feel safe. Modern day I would never let my wife go to the grocery store alone. Unless she’s doing pick up and doesn’t have to get out of her vehicle you better believe I’m right by her side carrying.
     

    dantheman

    I despise ARFCOM
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    Yes some are leaving other agencies for Ascension where the pay is above the local average.

    It's not just the pay . Sheriff Webre stands behind his folks and spends a ton of money on equipment and training .
     
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