NOPD: Blog of New Orleans, Gambit

NOPD makes another Mother's Day shooting arrest

Alex Woodward — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:13:18 -0500

New Orleans Police Department officers arrested another suspect related to the Mother's Day second line shootings. This afternoon, Monique Pepe, 19, was charged with being an accessory to attempted second degree murder for allegedly hiding 24-year-old Shawn Scott, who was arrested along with his 19-year-old brother Akein Scott.…

Akein Scott's brother and 4 others in custody for Mother's Day shootings

Alex Woodward — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:30:00 -0500

Returning to the intersection of Frenchmen and North Villere streets, city officials and law enforcement announced the capture of second line shooting suspect Akein Scott as well as his brother, 24-year-old Shawn Scott, and four others.

New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Ronal Serpas confirmed Shawn Scott as the second shooting suspect.…

Akein Scott in custody

Alex Woodward — Thu, 16 May 2013 10:15:00 -0500

Akein Scott, the 19-year-old suspect in the Mother's Day second line shootings, was arrested from a home in the Little Woods neighborhood in eastern New Orleans late last night. He appeared in Orleans Parish Magistrate Court this morning with bail set at $500,000 for each charge — Scott was booked with 20 counts of attempted second degree murder.…

Original Big 7 will "re-do" Mother's Day second line

Alex Woodward — Wed, 15 May 2013 18:02:00 -0500

Original Big 7 Social Aid & Pleasure Club organizers announced it will "re-do" its second line parade, interrupted by the shooting at its Mother's Day procession, at 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 1. It will follow the same route.…

The Mother's Day shootings: What constitutes an act of terror?

Kevin Allman — Tue, 14 May 2013 18:00:41 -0500

On Sunday, hours after the Mother’s Day shooting in the Seventh Ward, FBI New Orleans spokeswoman Mary Beth Romig told the Associated Press the gunfire that injured 19 people was, as far as federal investigators knew, not an act of terrorism. “It’s strictly an act of street violence,” Romig said.…

Mother's Day shooting suspect had prior arrests

Alex Woodward — Tue, 14 May 2013 09:50:31 -0500

A few hours following a community rally at the site of the Mother's Day second line shooting, New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) officials named Akein Scott, 19, as the suspect, seen in the surveillance footage.

This is not Scott's first brush with the law.…

Photos: Community rally gathers at site of second line shooting

Alex Woodward — Mon, 13 May 2013 22:33:26 -0500

As sun set at the intersection of Frenchmen and North Villere streets, 200 people gathered at the site of yesterday's Original Big 7 Social Aid and Pleasure Club's annual Mother's Day second line, which ended prematurely as 19 people were injured in a shooting. Mayor Mitch Landrieu, members of New Orleans City Council, community leaders and others spoke into a microphone at the center of the intersection.…

Officials update Mother's Day second line shooting

Alex Woodward — Mon, 13 May 2013 16:30:29 -0500

New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) and federal authorities gathered outside NOPD headquarters this afternoon to provide updates following the shooting at a second line yesterday that injured 19 people, three critically.

NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas said most of the wounds were "superficial, glancing wounds," though those that remain in critical condition faced "direct gunshot wounds."

"We have no ability to give you the condition of persons who went through surgery today, but we know they’re still receiving medical attention," Serpas said.

Investigators are still trying to determine whether there was more than one gunman at the scene, and if there was more than one weapon.…

Video: Mother's Day second line shooting

Alex Woodward — Mon, 13 May 2013 09:18:00 -0500

The New Orleans Police Department released video from yesterday afternoon's shooting at a Mother's Day second line in the 7th Ward. The video surveillance footage below shows frames of the event that injured 19 people, including Gambit correspondent Deborah Cotton.…

NOPD consent decree selection postponed

Alex Woodward — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:40:06 -0500

Today, U.S. District Court Judge Susie Morgan was scheduled to select one of the two final firms that would monitor the New Orleans Police Department and implement reforms as ordered under the federal consent decree. That decision has been postponed another two weeks until May 14.…

Press release: NOPD officers' association will not boycott Jazz Fest

Charles Maldonado — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 13:02:00 -0500

Police Association of New Orleans (PANO) president Michael Glasser writes in an email that his group will not boycott security details at the upcoming New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival as a protest of a proposed overhaul to the New Orleans Police Department's off-duty detail system.

"The idea has merit, and may yet be one which the rank and file may choose to pursue," Glasser writes.…

City Council delays police detail debate again

Charles Maldonado — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 10:10:00 -0500

A New Orleans City Council hearing on two ordinances that will provide a funding mechanism for the new Office of Police Secondary Employment, originally set for Tuesday, April 9 and rescheduled for Wednesday, April 17, has been rescheduled again. A before the City Council's Budget/Audit/Board of Review Committee is now set for Thursday, April 25.…

FOP warns police officers against Jazz Fest boycott

Charles Maldonado — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:51:00 -0500

Update (Tues., April 9, 10:30 a.m.): The hearing on proposed NOPD detail ordinances was removed from the City Council committee agenda at the beginning of this morning's meeting. New Orleans City Council President Stacy Head said the Council will discuss the bills next week.…

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Landrieu: Sheriff "is not keeping the prison secure and our city safe"

Alex Woodward — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 14:15:00 -0500

In a statement that followed Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman's afternoon presser — and a stab at Mayor Mitch Landrieu — after hours of testimony over the Orleans Parish Prison (OPP) consent decree, Landrieu issued the following statement to the media:

It gets clearer every day that the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office is not keeping the prison secure and our city safe. This week, expert after expert talked about mismanagement and said this was one of the worst run jails in the country.…
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Landrieu: jail consent decree could mean layoffs and sweeping cuts

Alex Woodward — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:00:00 -0500

Yesterday, Mayor Mitch Landrieu called for a special New Orleans City Council meeting to discuss the proposed federal consent decree for Orleans Parish Prison — namely how the millions of dollars to pay for it would cripple the city’s budget.

Today, Landrieu said a consent decree with Sheriff Marlin Gusman and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) — on top of the consent agreement to reform NOPD — “cannot be paid for in this fiscal year without raising taxes or substantially gutting city services.”

“During this fiscal year, the sheriff, DOJ, federal judges are all riding up to tell us and the taxpayers of the city to write a blank check and hand it over,” Landrieu said.…
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Council committee meets on alleged racial profiling by NOPD

Charles Maldonado — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 16:32:40 -0500

New Orleans Independent Police Monitor (IPM) Susan Hutson and Inspector General (IG) today presented to the New Orleans City Council's Criminal Justice Committee the results of two highly critical reports on the New Orleans Police Department's stop and frisk programs. The IG report, which examined 10,000 field interview cards generated over two months in 2011, concluded that because of sloppy and incomplete data-gathering on officer field interview cards, the office was unable to determine whether racial profiling was taking place during so-called "Terry stops," where officers briefly stop, detain and possibly search subjects.…
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Photos: Two meetings on NOPD and racial profiling

Charles Maldonado — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 12:34:00 -0500

After weeks of demands from Danatus King, president of the NAACP's New Orleans chapter, Mayor Mitch Landrieu held a meeting to address community concerns about the New Orleans Police Department — specifically racial profiling — last night at First Emmanuel Baptist Church, a mere 2.6 mile drive from Christian Unity Baptist Church, where King simultaneously held a meeting on the same topic.

Like District B Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell, I was able to attend both meetings, but because I'm unable to bend space, I could only attend the beginning of Landrieu's meeting and the end of the NAACP's meeting.…
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Mayor's office: No plans to move NOPD 8th District at this time

Charles Maldonado — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 16:50:51 -0500

Responding to a rumor recently circulating among some French Quarter residents that the city of New Orleans is poised to sell the New Orleans Police Department's (NOPD) 8th District station (and before the office's recent move to City Hall, the home of the Vieux Carre Commission) at 334 Royal St. sometime in the near future, Mayor Mitch Landrieu's spokesman Ryan Berni writes in an email that city currently has no such plans. However, he adds, that could change in the future.…
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City, feds narrow monitor search to five firms

Charles Maldonado — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:07:00 -0600

The New Orleans Police Department consent decree monitor evaluation committee held its first public meeting today, narrowing a list of candidates to five firms from the 12 that applied. The committee, made up of five representatives from New Orleans city government — which is fighting in court to void the consent decree — and five from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) will meet throughout March and April to select a monitor before the court-mandated April 30 deadline.…
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Public meeting on NOPD consent decree monitor this week

Charles Maldonado — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 11:28:47 -0600

The city of New Orleans and the U.S. Department of Justice have agreed on a schedule of meetings to choose a contractor who will monitor the New Orleans Police Department's (NOPD) compliance with its federal consent decree. The first one is Thursday, March 7, at 1 p.m. at the Superdome.…
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Citizens group: Put NOPD under full federal control

Charles Maldonado — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 09:52:24 -0600

Activist group Community United for Change (CUC) yesterday submitted a brief opposing the city of New Orleans' recent attempt to cancel the New Orleans Police Department federal consent decree. The group even goes a step further than the consent decree, asking the court to consider placing the NOPD under federal control.…
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Civil service notes: Police associations ask NOPD to end provisional promotions, still no recommendations on emergency overtime

Charles Maldonado — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 14:30:49 -0600

Attorneys for the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) and the Police Association of New Orleans (PANO) today asked the Civil Service Commission to stop approving provisional promotions — made at management's discretion without normally required testing and training — in the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD).

Superintendent Ronal Serpas and the Landrieu Administration did not recommend $147,000 the Civil Service Department requested for sergeant exams in this year's budget.…
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Landrieu: "The DOJ’s filing today mischaracterizes our interactions over the last several years"

Kevin Allman — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 19:51:35 -0600

Early this evening, Mayor Mitch Landrieu's office sent out a statement regarding the U.S. Department of Justice filing a motion in opposition to the City of New Orleans' recent motion to void the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) consent decree:

The DOJ’s filing today mischaracterizes our interactions over the last several years, especially as it relates to the OPP consent decree. We negotiated the NOPD decree in good faith, expecting the same from the DOJ.…
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Officers' association argues for voiding consent decree

Charles Maldonado — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 18:21:55 -0600

The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the city's largest police officers' association, today submitted to federal court a memorandum in support of the City of New Orleans' motion to void the New Orleans Police Department's (NOPD) federal consent decree. In it FOP argues that the city has already addressed many of the department's most serious problems without federal intervention.…
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City selects evaluation committee for consent decree monitor contract

Charles Maldonado — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 18:02:46 -0600

The city of New Orleans has submitted to federal court a list of candidates for an evaluation committee that will help to select a company to serve as a federal monitor over implementation of the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) consent decree.

The contract is estimated to be worth about $10 million over the course of the consent decree, among the largest anticipated costs for the $55 million reform agreement.…
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