Some New Orleanians skeptical of city and DOJ’s request to exit consent decree

Community members and elected officials are reacting to the city of New Orleans and U.S. Department of Justice’s attempt to close a yearslong chapter of federal oversight of the New Orleans Police Department.

On Sept. 27, the city and DOJ asked U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan to begin to ramp down the police department’s consent decree, which was put into place after a federal investigation found the department was engaging in unlawful behaviors, including excessive force, unconstitutional stops and discriminatory policing. City and federal officials say the department is now generally in compliance. Although not completely compliant in areas of searches and arrests, bias-free policing and community engagement, the DOJ has deemed NOPD’s conduct sufficient enough to warrant transitioning to the sustainment period.

If approved by Morgan, the city and DOJ will enter a two-year “sustainment” period, during which the NOPD will have to demonstrate that it can follow certain benchmarks to police itself. Even if Morgan approves the request to exit the decree, she can reverse that decision if the NOPD fails to meet agreed upon benchmarks of the sustainment period, as the judge wrote in a notice last week.

But at two separate events this week, residents, activists and politicians expressed concern and curiosity about the possibility of less federal oversight. Some told Verite News that they still see misconduct in the NOPD and wonder who will hold the police accountable if the consent decree ends.

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“At the end of the day, they need to be held accountable,” Belden “Noonie Man” Batiste, a community activist, told Verite News at a community meeting held to discuss the city and DOJ’s request to exit the decree.

The First District Police Community Advisory Board hosted the meeting on Sept. 30 at the Treme Recreation Community Center. Those in attendance heard from New Orleans police officers and Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams and asked them questions.

Batiste said that he does not think NOPD is ready to exit the consent decree due to what he believes is excessive force and corruption. He referenced two recent events — a Sept. 20 indictment of a former NOPD reserve officer on multiple charges and a Sept. 22 incident in which an officer allegedly punched a woman unconscious — as evidence that the department isn’t ready.

“It’s a disgrace how some of the cops function,” Batiste said. “I’m not saying we have all bad cops — we do have good cops — but we ain’t ready to get out of the consent decree.”

Verite News reached out to NOPD with questions about residents’ critiques of the city and DOJ’s request to exit the consent decree and was referred to the city’s press release. They offered no further comment.

Engaging the community around the consent decree

Charles Aponzo, a New Orleans resident who was at the Monday meeting, said that the consent decree has to end at some point and that he feels comforted knowing Morgan can change her decision based on how the police are complying with the benchmarks of the sustainment period.

Aponzo also said that he would like to see clear judgment, transparency and clarity from the city on where they want to go from here. He emphasized the need for implementing community input in a way that brings out people who do not typically come to community events like the one on Monday.

“Ultimately, I think it’s a matter of defining ‘community’ effectively, and asking yourself who is in the room, who’s not in the room and bringing people who are not into the room into the room,” Aponzo said.

Jalence Isles, another city resident, also emphasized wanting the city to come up with additional ways to engage parts of the city that don’t normally attend community events. She is concerned that the people who really need messages from the city about the consent decree are not receiving them.

“I appreciate … efforts like this, but this clearly does not represent the broader community,” Isles said. “This represents the people that are already kind of informed, at least somewhat, about some of these things. I really wish that the city would develop a comprehensive communication plan for major things like this.”

Morgan Clevenger, president of the First District Police Community Advisory Board, said she thinks the most important thing with transitioning away from the consent decree is the city having events in place to engage with the public.

“If we don’t have highly productive community engagement with the NOPD and vice versa, we’re probably going to end up back where we started,” Clevenger said.

‘It’s a scary situation’

State Sen. Royce Duplessis, D-New Orleans, was at Monday’s meeting and told Verite that he and his constituents have many questions about lifting the consent decree.

“I think there’s been a lot of great progress, but…I’ve heard from the community that there are still concerns around what oversight (there will) be when there’s no longer the federal monitor. So, it still remains to be seen,” Duplessis said.

Williams, the district attorney, told Verite News after the meeting that he understands that it can be scary to have the federal government step in to tell the police to treat people fairly.

“It’s a scary situation, so it’s very hard to just go back and say, ‘okay, we trust you now, that you’re going to do it,’” Williams said.

But Williams said there is another aspect of the issue people should consider — what the money used for the consent decree could go toward. He said the $5 million a year used to keep up with the decree could be instead invested in community organizations like police community advisory boards or into programs for young people.

Claims of racist policing

Early Tuesday afternoon, members of New Orleans for Community Oversight of Police (NOCOP) and allies held a press conference outside of the federal district courthouse opposing the city’s ask to move to sustainment.

Several speakers from local community and activist groups, like Freedom Road Socialist Organization and Eye on Surveillance, talked to the press about why they do not want an end to the consent decree. They connected the consent decree to local issues of immigration, police responses to a pro-Palestine encampment that occurred at Tulane University and some of their own interactions with the law.

NOCOP’s Toni Jones said racially biased policing is the main reason why the organization does not think NOPD should move to exit the consent decree.

Jones cited the New Orleans Office of the Independent Police Monitor’s 2023 annual report, which revealed that NOPD’s use of force against Black women increased by 54.9 percent from 2021 to 2023. The report also said that 86% of NOPD use of force cases against women were against Black women and 90% of NOPD use of force cases against men were against Black men in 2023.

“This extreme disparity is due to NOPD racism, and not Black criminality,” Jones said. “We don’t believe that racist policing is sustainable.”

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This story was originally published by Verite News and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.