Louisiana Supreme Court in turmoil

Currently the members of the Louisiana Supreme Court are fighting like school children. This all stems from the announcement by Chief Justice Kitty Kimball that she intends to retire in January 2013.

In a very rare event, the justices have essentially aired their dirty laundry and disagreements publicly. Associate Justice Bernette Joshua Johnson by all practical accounts, who has been on the court since 1994, would ascend to the post vacated by Chief Justice Kimball upon her retirement. Right?

Not so fast, Associate Justice Jeffrey Victory has asserted that he is next in line to serve as Chief Justice, having been elected to the court in 1995. You would think it's a no brainer with Johnson being elected in 1994 and Victory in 1995, right? Wrong!

Justice Victory is arguing that when Justice Johnson ascended to the court, she was essentially a Court of Appeals judge, on loan or sitting "ad-hoc" to the Supreme Court, to be in compliance with a federal consent decree. The argument now is whether Justice Johnson's appointment afforded her the same privileges that the other "elected" justices received. The Louisiana Legislature addressed this question in 1997 in which they stated, "Any tenure on the Supreme Court gained by such judge while so assigned shall be credited to such judge". This would lead us to believe that there is no question to the validity of Justice Johnson's argument. Unfortunately, that's not the case here as Justice Victory is arguing that this violated the Louisiana Constitution and therefore the consent decree and subsequent actions were illegal.

Now I'll go into what's at stake, if determined to be the longest serving member of the Supreme Court, Justice Johnson will face a very tough time, as she has been pitted against all six of her current colleagues as they have met without her to discuss the problem, causing her to file an injunction in the Federal Courts to prevent arguments on the subject. Also at stake is history. Prior to Justice Johnson taking office, Justice Revius Ortique was the appointed the "Ad-hoc Justice". Justice Ortique went down in history as the first African American Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court. Ironically, Justice Ortique was never elected to the post and was only appointed to comply with the consent decree.

So I ask, if the courts decide that Justice Johnson's assertion that she is next in line to become Chief Justice is invalid because the consent decree violated the Louisiana Constitution, does that also negate Justice Ortique's standing as the first African American Justice? If so, that would make Justice Johnson, in addition to being the first African American Female Justice, the first African American Justice since she was elected to the bench in 2000.

Personally I can't wait to see how the courts rule. However, I believe that either way, there will be severe consequences and bad blood for years to come on the Louisiana Supreme Court.

PANO Poll of New Orleans Police Officers

Today Dr. Peter Scharf of Tulane University, in conjunction with the Police Association of New Orleans released the results of a poll of members of the New Orleans Police Department. This poll questioned officers about their feelings about working conditions, their feelings for their supervisors, new initiatives implemented by Supt. Serpas, etc.

Before Supt. Serpas had the opportunity to review the complete results, he issued a statement saying that the poll by PANO was "predictably negative". Instead of the chief making positive comments about how he plans to use the results of the poll to make things better for his officers, he took to the defensive, as usual.

If over 400 officers were brave enough to complete the survey, I'd venture to say they are supported by the majority of their brethren that failed to complete the survey, for whatever reason.

Again, Supt. Serpas is failing to take a prime opportunity to boost the morale of his subordinates. Instead, he is stuck on stupid. Just because you believe everything is okay in the department, doesn't mean it's true Chief. Get off your high horse and recognize that other people have the ability to prepare statistics and analyze data. You aren't the only person that has a terminal degree (i.e. PhD, EdD, etc.), and as a matter of fact, the other people earned their degrees, what about you? Learn to accept criticism from other sources and stop believing your own sanctimonious press!!

Just my $.02

New Orleans Police Policy on Field Interview Cards (F.I.C.)

So an article was released today by the Times Picayune that discussed questions on the NOPD's policy of completing Field Interview Cards on all parties they come in contact with.

As always, Supt. Serpas made the argument that the department is doing nothing wrong. He stated that "officers are utilizing judgment in accordance with law and professional practice."

How can this be the case when officers have been ordered to complete and FIC anytime they conduct a criminal history or driver's license check of a subject, even in instances involving minor traffic infractions or traffic crashes.

This is all coming out after the Legal Aspects instructor in the NOPD Academy, P/O IV Larry Cager sent a memorandum to Chief Serpas and his top advisors that the practice was illegal and in violation of the 4th Amendment. I should note that Officer Cager has a Juris Doctorate and was admitted to the Louisiana State Bar Association on April 18, 1997.

Evidently Officer Cager has some knowledge on the subject and should be taken seriously. More so because Officer Cager is the sole instructor for Legal Aspects for the NOPD and teaches every academy class and those completing in-service training.

Step up and admit your policy was wrong Chief. Don't stand behind the members of the department when your acts are found to be wrong.

Just my $.02

Community United for Change (What a Joke)

Below is a press release written by Community United for Change. Please take the time to read below.

"WC Johnson of Community United for Change just sent out the following press release announcing a town hall meeting tonight about last week's shooting, which left Justin Sipp dead and Officers Anthony Mayfield and Michael Asevedo seriously injured. Last week, a lawyer for Officer Jason Giroir, who initiated the stop that led to the shooting, said Giroir did nothing wrong and welcomed any investigation to prove it. Johnson, and others, however, remain unconvinced. Johnson calls the circumstances described by police "questionable at best"; Sipp's brother Larry Champ has also publicly questioned the account; and local NAACP chapter president Danatus King has called for a federal investigation into the incident.

Community United for Change
1647 Gentilly Boulevard
New Orleans, La. 70119
504-251-2201
e-mail cuc.nola@yahoo.com


EMERGENCY TOWN HALL MEETING
On Thursday March 1, two black men were shot down by the NOPD. It is of the greatest importance that the Black Community refuses to accept this behavior by the NOPD. The circumstances surrounding this shooting are questionable at best, and it is the duty of the Black Community to get answers as to how and why NOPD leadership continues to allow this type of behaviors to exist.

Community United for Change (CUC) has invited the family of deceased Justin Sipp and his brother, Earl Sipp, to meet with Commander Westbrook of Public Integrity Bureau, and Susan Hutson, the Independent Police Monitor, for answers to what happened that caused their loved ones death and serious injuries. The US Justice Department has also been invited to observe these proceeding.

Note: Hutson tells Gambit she will not be attending the meeting. NOPD officials have not yet responded to an inquiry as to whether Westbrook will be there.

CUC encourages the Black Community to rally in support of the Sipp family to ensure a fair investigation and to develop measures to keep these behaviors from happening to other loved ones of the Black Community. Your support and presence is vital to demand justice in this case. Don’t let this NOPD shooting get ignored like the Adolph Grimes III murder in 2009. There are too many Black Folks being murdered and brutalized by the NOPD.

Justice for the Sipp Family!

Stop the Murder and Police Brutality of Black People

*Stop Racism Now *

Emergency Town Hall Meeting
St. James AME Church Meeting Hall
221 N Derbigny Street (next door to Two Sister’s Kitchen)
Monday March 5th 6:30 PM
Come One Come All ~ You Could Be Next"

So after reading the press release, it has been confirmed for me why there are so many "good boys" and "college-bound" heroes being killed everyday. It's because of spineless, gutless, self-centered individuals like WC Johnson of Community United for Change. As long as we have people like this that support idiots that do dumb shit, they will continue to do dumb shit. While I'm not saying that the members in the law enforcement community are Saints, who would really shoot themselves in order to kill a "college-bound" young black male. This same black male just happens to be a felon, who's in possession of a firearm, by his own brother's account of the incident.

This incident was a perfect opportunity for the citizens in this screwed up city to support the men and women who put their lives on the line everyday, instead they support the thugs who have been plaguing the city for years. This was a great opportunity for the NOPD Brass to attempt to salvage morale by supporting their officers. Instead, as always, the community questions the police and calls for a federal investigation and the NOPD administration Monday-Morning Quarterbacks about the officers not wearing bullet-proof vests.

Great job on the part of the community and the Brass...You've managed to drive morale to a new low in the department. Ask yourself why an officer would want to come to work everyday of the week, only to have their integrity questioned by the community and to be constantly demoralized by the people they work for. To my fellow LEO's, keep your head up. One of these days the community and the Brass will take their heads out of their asses!!!

NOPD vs OPSO, What is the difference?

For years in the City of New Orleans there has been animosity and/or bad blood between the NOPD and the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office. It comes in part from members of the NOPD thinking their superior to all of law enforcement agencies in the area but also from a lack of confidence on the part of the deputies with the OPSO.

This animosity has led to a misconception on the part of the citizens in the Metropolitan New Orleans area. The residents fail to see that the OPSO can take the same enforcement actions that the NOPD can. I hope the below Civics lesson helps everyone to understand the roles of both departments.

First, the New Orleans Police Department is primarily responsible for the patrol and answering calls for service functions in the City of New Orleans. The Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office is primarily responsible for the care, custody, and control on prisoners in the Parish of Orleans. However, the following holds true:

The Constitution of the State of Louisiana states in relevant part, "In each parish a sheriff shall be elected for a term of four years. He shall be the chief law enforcement officer in the parish...". The City of New Orleans' Home Rule Charter dictates that The Superintendent of Police for the City of New Orleans shall be the chief law enforcement officer for the city. Here we have conflicting laws, however, the Home Rule Charter is allowed to prevail without challenge.

I contend that while the NOPD conducts primarily all patrol and call for service response, personnel of the Sheriff's Department are in fact peace officers with the authority and power to make arrests and enforce city and sate laws. This is shown to be true in Louisiana Revised Statute 40:2402(3)(a) which says: ""Peace Officer" means any full-time employee of the state, a municipality, a sheriff, or other public agency, whose permanent duties actually include the making of arrests, the performing of searches and seizures, or the execution of criminal warrants, and is responsible for the prevention or detection of crime or for the enforcement of the penal, traffic, or highway laws of this state, but not including any elected or appointed head of a law enforcement department". Section 2402(3)(b) says: ""Peace Officer" shall also include those sheriff's deputies whose duties include the care, custody, and control of inmates."

With that, I conclude that there is virtu no difference between police officer with the NOPD and the sheriff's deputies with the OPSO, other than their primary roles are different.

To the officers out there, it is time for the you to respect and support your brethren in uniform. To the sheriff's deputies, it's time for you to demand respect, by first respecting yourselves and having confidence in your ability to effectively and efficiently perform your duties as a peace officer!

In re: Mayor & Police Chief's Press Conference

In the press conference by Mayor Landrieu and Supt. Serpas, the Mayor spent entirely too long trying to correct a question asked by one of the journalists. The question was something like, "Chief Serpas, do we have enough officers with the NOPD to address the crime issues.". The Mayor chose to respond by chastising the journalist about getting his facts straight.

News Flash Mr. Mayor, nobody cares about the number of officers per capita. The truth is, we have less officers patrolling the streets of New Orleans than we've ever had. Before you say we have less citizens, I disagree with that as well. In post-Katrina New Orleans, we have more undocumented illegal aliens here than ever. Without 100% proof, I would venture to say that our population is probably equal to or just shy of our population pre-Katrina. Thus, we need more officers.

Let's cut some of those B.S. high-ranking administration officials and hire more foot soldiers!

Just my $.02!

Reorganizing Criminal Justice Agencies

I stated in my very first blog that New Orleans has entirely too many law enforcement agencies to have to request mutual aid from outside the parish. Tell me how you'd feel about having a system of agencies like in New York? All of the different agencies could maintain their leadership, all while answering to one civilian Police Commissioner. This would ensure that all of the involved agencies had and worked towards the same goal. It would also ensure equal respect amongst agencies.

Offer your opinions.

National Guard

Is The National Guard the answer to combatting crime in the City of New Orleans? What are the pros and cons to bringing them in?

In my humble opinion the National Guard may be a nice suggestion but, they are not the answer to address our crime problems. I'll first offer the cons to bringing them in and then the pros.

I stated in response to a comment on my previous blog that with bringing in the National Guard we would face a problem of a different type. The first problem would be the biggest of all, a lack of knowledge of the laws of the state & city; secondly, they lack knowledge of the criminal justice system; thirdly, they lack knowledge of law enforcement protocols; and, they would not be as friendly a force as the community and politicians have forced the NOPD to become.

A large majority of the National Guard are not members of the law enforcement community. Most are civilian business people like the ordinary citizen. They are not as well versed in the 4th Amendment to the United States Constitution as your average police officer is. With that lack of knowledge will come illegal searches and seizures that will lead to criminal cases being rejected or overturned on appeal.

Again being a civilian, they aren't necessarily aware of the protocols and policies that govern a police agency. They are not familiar with the completion of police reports after affecting an arrest. History has shown us that using the Guard is like using ordinary citizens, in so far as when they make an arrest, they must relate the information to a police officer who will in turn complete the proper reports and affect the actual arrest, thus tying up unnecessary manpower.

The final con I mentioned was that they would be less friendly. This community has cried for a more friendly police department that gives more warnings and new court dates for various criminal offenses. The National Guard would have to come in and adapt to that mindset and forget about their training for use in times of war. You would undoubtedly have a group of people more aggressive in certain situations than is necessary.

The major pro to having the National Guard in the city is additional manpower on the street. You could deploy them to your hotspots, thus forcing the the criminals to either move or become more brazen about how and when they commit crime.

The statements above are only my opinions and I welcome the thoughts and opinions of others. Please remember that this is not an attack on The National Guard. If put into their element, us law enforcement officer would likewise lack skills and knowledge to consistently perform successfully.

Lack of Leadership in New Orleans

NOLA Crime Blog

Here we are 12 days into 2012 and already in New Orleans, Louisiana, we've seen ten (10) people killed.  How do we address recurring crime in this city?  Do we blame the police?  Do we blame the city's leadership?  Do we blame the ordinary citizen?  Do we blame society?  The answer to all of those questions is an emphatic HELL YES!  Below I will outline why we have to blame everyone as a whole for the state of our city.

Let's start with blaming the police since that comes so easy for all of us.  I fault the police department for failing to grow a united pair of cohunas to stand up to the community and it's leadership, and say we're taking our streets back.  Currently the morale in the police department is the lowest I've ever seen it.  I would venture to say it's at an all time low.  You have police officers that come to work for 8.35 hours every day who refuse to stop suspicious people, vehicles, etc.  Why you ask?  It's because when something happens they aren't supported; by their leadership or the community.  When are we going to allow the police to be the police?

I'll move on to the City's Leadership, specifically Mayor Mitchell J. Landrieu and the police chief, Dr. Ronal W. Serpas.  Mayor Landrieu is adamantly opposed to doing anything that "could" negatively affect him or his political identity directly, unless of course it involves the replacement of Serpas.  It should be obvious to everyone that this guy is out for himself.  Chief Serpas on the other hand is only worried about being published in some journal regarding the problems in New Orleans.  To be an effective leader, you must first and foremost be a great motivator of people.  Currently the good Dr is not doing anything to motivate his people.  You can't expect your personnel to work and bust their asses for you when you and the and the mayor have both publicly admonished the entire department for your political benefit.  How can you out of one side of your mouth ask the officers to go out and be proactive and out of the other side call the entire department criminals and thugs?  This is completely unacceptable and more importantly discouraging.  I can't forget that the Chief publicly berates his commanders on a weekly basis about things occurring within their areas of responsibility.  Again, good job Chief!  That'll make them want to work hard for you.  Oh, not to forget the "Mission One" assignments, where administrative staff people work the streets and answer calls for service once a month.  While this may have been a nice idea, it wasn't thought out very thoroughly, nor was it executed well.  You send these administrative staff people out and tell them to answer CFS in unmarked, il-equipped vehicles and tell them that reports must be entered into the Electronic Police Reporting system, but also tell them that they are bound by time limits on completing the reports.  This is ludicrous.  How do you expect them to complete paperwork when they don't have the proper equipment to do so?  Lastly for the Chief & Mayor, for 10 days straight there were special events in the city and officers were not allowed to make any overtime.  You changed their shifts and hours to make it appear that tourists were safe.  News flash, any tourist that was still in the city Tuesday night received a large dose of reality.  Oh Mr. Mayor, real nice touch to send an email to city employees the night of Wednesday, January 11, 2012 to tell them to support the Saints, when the community didn't hear from you about the 8 people shot the same day.  Real nice leadership!!

The community & society play just as important a role in this mess as the other parties mentioned above.  Until the members of this community step up and say we're not accepting this anymore, we'll continue to have murder after murder.  I've said before that the leaders in the clergy should be marching for every murder, not murder number 150 or for the so-called innocents.  Where were they at murder number 1 of 2012?  The community first and foremost needs to support its police department and other public service employees.  Finally we have to teach and discipline our children.  The children of today are tomorrow's future and with more and more of them committing more violent crime, our future looks very sorry!

Finally one last bit of advice for the police department's leadership.  Stop thinking and brainwashing the officers to believe that they are superior to other departments.  With the crime problems in this city, we should be partnering with our brethren in uniform right here in the city, not those from across parish lines.  In the city alone, we have several law enforcement agencies, i.e.  NOPD, Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office, Orleans Levee District Police, Port of New Orleans Harbor Police, Crescent City Connection Police, Delgado, Loyola, SUNO, Tulane, Dillard, UNO campus police departments.  Start utilizing your resources and allow these agencies to assist in combating crime in this damn city.  Problem is, NOPD degrades anybody that doesn't wear a Star & Crescent badge!  News flash, if you are involved in a life or death situation, you wouldn't care if the dog catcher assisted you, give respect to the other agencies and they'll begin to respect you!

Just my $.02 as a concerned citizen and law enforcement officer in the City of New Orleans!!!