New Orleans Police Department – Recent Challenges. Problem

The city that was affected the most by Hurricane Katrina was New Orleans, Louisiana. Governor Blanco called for state emergency in Louisiana on August 26, 2005. Then on August 29th, Mayor Nagin issued a mandatory evacuation of the City of New Orleans. The people who were unable to escape the city, were just desperate for help and the worst came out of people. Katrina forced the city into anarchy. Disaster relief agencies were not around to aid people so many resorted to looting because they needed food and other supplies to survive. The New Orleans Police Department (NOPD), whom already did not have a favorable reputation in the city, didn’t help either. Some NOPD officers chose to leave their post and others also participated in the looting which was happening throughout the city. Other NOPD officers were

In 1990’s the justice department said that New Orleans was the highest country with complaints of police brutality in 1994 there were than forty officers arrested for bribery, rape, bank robbery and Police corruption has been an issue for many years. Len Davis had worked for the Fifth District with officer Sammy Williams and Paul Hardy as patrolmen. Their salary at that time was $18,000 a year. Davis and his partners took thousands of dollar pleasure trips and took on a leadership role of drug racket getting under table payments to other New Orleans police department recruited to guard warehouse of cocaine (Mustian, 2014).

The brutality of the police force has been a long worldwide problem, but especially between the years of 2012-2016. Black people are being unjustly beaten and shot in plain sight for doing nothing while being unarmed. Journal of African American Studies “Blacks are viewed as deserving of harsh treatment in the criminal justice system” (482). “Black males with more “Afrocentric” features may receive longer sentences than blacks with less Afrocentric features like lighter skin and straighter hair”(482). Nowadays it is important to know about the police force. It’s important to know our rights as citizens and be careful around cops. Not everybody is good, but not everybody is bad also. In The New York Amsterdam News 21 people were killed by Chicago police in 2008. Entire families were being attacked. They believe it’s because of their skin color and how they are different. The year of racism started off with the world seeing the police murder of Oscar Grant. “The media have pushed people away from hearing the issue of police brutality, and it has fallen off of the radar screen.”(2) “You can’t give in. They will try to make an example out of you, try to break your spirit!”(2) African Americans say do not trust the cops with anything. “They will ruin you.”(2)

Policemen are supposed to “serve and protect.” Lately that motto has lost its significance and meaning. The public and the news media no longer respect the occupation. Policemen nowadays are accused of not doing their jobs properly and instead of serving their communities, outright ignore or harm ordinary civilians. Terms like “police brutality” have become rather popular and there appears to be no shortage of new articles scrutinizing the police. This paper will focus on the soured relation between Houstonians and the Houston Police Department (HPD). Of interest is the reasoning behind why a good chunk of Houston’s denizens despise HPD officers. Thus, this paper will take a closer look at some of the questionable actions committed by HPD’s

My greatest fear is losing my kids to the crime and violence in my city. The things that our kids are exposed to in New Orleans makes it hard for a single parent like my-self to keep my kids away. In 2012 statistics shows the city’s violent crime rate was higher than the national violent crime rate average by 110.7%, crime rate total incidents were up by almost 6000 compared to property crimes. With all the drugs, killings, prostitution, breaking and entering, and black on black crimes it scares me to know that your kids are not safe in their own homes.

There have been several studies and implemented policies within agencies all over the world directed to prevent and deter police misconduct / corruption. In the early 1990s, the Mollen Commission of Inquiry revealed a serious police corruption problem in the New York City Police Department (NYPD). One of the key recommendations of the commission was that their internal investigative structure the Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB) be reconstituted as it had failed to effectively tackle the problem. Almost a decade since the establishment of a new IAB, it is hailed as a noteworthy example of how such a structure should operate if police corruption is to be adequately dealt with. (Newham, 2003).

When one thinks of police misconduct many not too distant stories might go through our heads. Most adults will remember how they felt when they saw the brutal beating of Rodney King on their local news station; or the outrage they experienced when they heard that the evidence in the OJ Simpson trial had been tampered with. But thanks to new guidelines, procedures and even civilian groups who now “police” the police, instances of police misconduct may soon start seeing a decline.

New Orleans has been a city where millions of tourist go and experience a variety of cultures. Many tourist find that the city’s gentle, slow, and easy-going way of life is intoxicating and continue to return year after year. Thus New Orleans has been dubbed with the iconic nickname “The Big Easy”. However, behind the veil, New Orleans police officers have been committing countless felonies and has been described as

Racially biased statements and racial slurs have become an everyday staple in many police departments, but they go usually unreported. A Department of Justice investigation into the Baltimore Police department found examples of this exact behavior. When the DOJ interviewed the Baltimore community,

A number of problems arise from race and ethnicity issues in policing practices. From the department’s perspective, issues with race and ethnicity, create negative consequences. For example, if a police department fails properly to resolve situational conflicts, this can cause loss of productivity, tension among officers of different race and backgrounds, enhanced suspicion of other officers, and increased isolation of staff member. The department will suffer tremendously if it fails

The corruption began in the 1980’s but peaked during the early 1990’s (Law, 2017). After Hurricane Katrina hit, the police department became known for the prejudice, abuse and criminality that spread throughout the department (Ramsey, 2015). These problems surfaced and of course, the department faced backlash, leading to distrust between officers and black civilians (Ramsey, 2015). Incidents like these have become a common theme amongst police distrust.

During the investigation over the course of approximately one hundred days, officials interviewed everyone associated with the department, the mayor, citizens, court staff, etc. In addition to the oral interviews, emails, records, and other forms of data were thoroughly reviewed. In an attempt to summarize the many issues associated with the Ferguson Police Department, controversial concerns fell under the topics of unconstitutional police practices and the community’s lack of trust towards the

Police Agencies in modern society are a part of the American fabric to serve and protect the American public. The United States currently have more than 15,000 police agencies, (Walker & Katz, 2011). Police Departments across the United States face similar critical issues policing. All police officers face dangers in the job of policing the dangers can emanate from internal and external origins. Police officers have continued to evolve to serve communities by finding better less than lethal alternatives to weapons used. In addition, police departments have continued to keep up with

There are many organizational failures that led to the shooting death of Michael Brown and the riots in Ferguson, Missouri that followed. The main form of organizational deviance that was seen in the events that led up to the shooting of Michael Brown was administrative breakdown, which is “produced by the failure to implement or enforce administrative principles (e.g., unity of command, discipline)” (Giblin, 2014, pg. 584). The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division wrote in their 2015 Investigation Report that “Ferguson law enforcement practices violent the law and undermine community trust, especially among African Americans” (pg. i). They found that there was a “pattern or practice of unlawful conduct…that violates the First, Foourth,

Over the last several years, most police departments have been facing numerous financial challenges. The main reason is law enforcement agencies are expected to do more with less and the stagnant economy. The combination of these factors has been placing pressure on many departments to begin imposing budget cuts. Evidence of this can be seen with a survey that was conducted by the University of North Carolina. They found that 67% of police departments made some kind of budget cuts for 2011. The most severe reductions were occurring in large police departments such as Los Angeles, Atlanta and Detroit. (Delfem, 2011, pp. 199 - 205) This is illustrating one of the most pressing issues affecting a wide variety of police departments across the country. To fully understand what is happening requires: examining the situation, how they are able to interact with other agencies (i.e. state / federal) and recommending the way this relationship can be improved. Together, these elements will offer specific insights about how police departments can effectively address this problem.