Free the #NOPD!
Letter to the Editor about Ending the Consent Decree Over NOPD:
I type this as someone who knows Susan Hutson, New Orleans Independent Police Monitor and John Arionne, the Federal Consent Decree Monitor tasked with overseeing the court ordered reform of the New Orleans Police Department.
Both are passionate advocates for constitutional policing, peer mediation within department ranks and community engagement.
I arrived in the real life Gotham City which is New Orleans shortly before the consent decree was in place. My hometown isn't a model for community policing but I nonetheless was vocal for just that, with intense emphasis on the complaints and concerns of law abiding Black citizens not being ignored.
In New Orleans, law enforcement supporters endured years of " Blue Hemmoarge ( mass retirement and quitting in protest of the past mayor and present federal oversight ) " where police response time was measured in days instead of minutes due to this unprecedented exodus.
The federal consent decree has remade the New Orleans Police Department into a national model of 21st Century reform, with even industry standard agencies like the LAPD and NYPD taking notes.
My concern isn't that the Independent Police Monitor and Federal Consent Decree Monitor are " anti police " or conversely, " pro criminal.
They aren't.
I'm wondering when do we free the NOPD to lead itself without oversight which has driven away experienced officers and prompted applicants to look elsewhere?
We're faced with a simple question, do we trust the New Orleans Police Department?
If you join me in answering yes, then it's time we who support a post-consent decree NOPD call for an end to this process.
The city still has an Independent Police Monitor empowered to investigate department policy and procedure and federal judges and the US Justice Department will always be watching.
Let's free the NOPD!
Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black is a consultant and safety advocate.
I type this as someone who knows Susan Hutson, New Orleans Independent Police Monitor and John Arionne, the Federal Consent Decree Monitor tasked with overseeing the court ordered reform of the New Orleans Police Department.
Both are passionate advocates for constitutional policing, peer mediation within department ranks and community engagement.
I arrived in the real life Gotham City which is New Orleans shortly before the consent decree was in place. My hometown isn't a model for community policing but I nonetheless was vocal for just that, with intense emphasis on the complaints and concerns of law abiding Black citizens not being ignored.
In New Orleans, law enforcement supporters endured years of " Blue Hemmoarge ( mass retirement and quitting in protest of the past mayor and present federal oversight ) " where police response time was measured in days instead of minutes due to this unprecedented exodus.
The federal consent decree has remade the New Orleans Police Department into a national model of 21st Century reform, with even industry standard agencies like the LAPD and NYPD taking notes.
My concern isn't that the Independent Police Monitor and Federal Consent Decree Monitor are " anti police " or conversely, " pro criminal.
They aren't.
I'm wondering when do we free the NOPD to lead itself without oversight which has driven away experienced officers and prompted applicants to look elsewhere?
We're faced with a simple question, do we trust the New Orleans Police Department?
If you join me in answering yes, then it's time we who support a post-consent decree NOPD call for an end to this process.
The city still has an Independent Police Monitor empowered to investigate department policy and procedure and federal judges and the US Justice Department will always be watching.
Let's free the NOPD!
Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black is a consultant and safety advocate.
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