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March 17, 2011

Blistering report details dysfunctional NOLA police dept

Federal law enforcement officials today released a 10-month investigation into the New Orleans police department that the New York Times says reveals "a profoundly and alarmingly troubled" force. The report was compiled by Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez, a former Montgomery County official who until 2009 led the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.

Among the findings in the report, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune: officers were too quick to use excessive force on the streets and too often neglected to document such use of force after the fact; bias against minorities and routinely stopping people without any legal basis for "pat down" searches. Perez wrote that the deficiencies existed "long before" Hurricane Katrina.

The report also found that the police 'systematically misclassified possible sexual assaults, resulting in a sweeping failure to properly investigate many potential cases of rape, attempted rape and other crimes.'

Posted by Justin Fenton at 5:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Crime elsewhere

Comments

Wow. Reading the second paragraph, I thought you were talking about the Anne Arundel County Police.

Posted by: Michael Calo | March 18, 2011 9:59 AM

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About Peter Hermann

Peter Hermann started covering news for The Baltimore Sun in 1990, first in Anne Arundel County and, starting in 1994, reporting on the Baltimore Police Department. In 2001, he was assigned to Jerusalem as the Baltimore Sun's Middle East correspondent. He returned in 2005 as an assistant city editor overseeing crime coverage. In 2008, Peter returned to the beat as a daily reporter and blogger. A recent BBC report featured him in a segment on the harsh realities of covering crime in Baltimore.

Coverage will focus on crime trends, problems in neighborhoods in the city and elsewhere, profiles of victims and police officers and try to offer readers a fresh perspective on one of the most vexing issues facing Baltimore and its future.

Contributing to this blog is Justin Fenton, who joined The Sun in 2005 and has covered the Baltimore City Police Department and the criminal justice system since 2008. His work includes an investigation into Cal Ripken Jr.’s minor league baseball stadium deal with his hometown of Aberdeen, a three-part series chronicling a ruthless con woman, coverage of the killing of five Amish children at a schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pa., and a job swap with a British crime reporter to explore differences in crime-fighting. A special report looking into how city police handle rape cases led to sweeping reforms that changed the way sexual assaults are investigated in Baltimore. He was recognized as the best reporter in Baltimore by the City Paper in 2010 and by Baltimore Magazine in 2011.

Follow @phscoop, @justin_fenton on Twitter