New Orleans - Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Los Angles and now New Orleans all have something in common: federal oversight of their police departments.
But Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez says there is one big difference. This time the feds are being welcomed.
"That is music to my ears because we have spent, regrettably often times, years in jurisdictions because the political leadership or the leadership with in the department continued not to acknowledge that there was a problem," said Perez during a press conference Monday.
Mayor Mitch Landrieu invited the Department of Justice to help revamp the NOPD, which is facing at least eight federal investigations into to possible police misconduct, most notably the cover up of police shootings on the Danziger Bridge in the days after Katrina.
"What we'll have at the end of this analysis is the information we need to ensure that those officers who have sworn oath to their badge and maintain that oath can be part of an organization that's confidence in the public is unheralded. We can also point to those officers who just made the wrong decision and ask them to move on," said Police Chief Ronal Serpas.
The Department of Justice assembled a team of experts from around the country who will work with NOPD brass to figure out what's wrong with the department and how to fix it. The DOJ says there will also be input from street cops and the community.
"This is our first priority. We are going to make the streets of New Orleans safe and we are going to have the best police department in the country," said Landrieu.
Perez says federal oversight netted results in other cities, particularly the extremely troubled department in Los Angeles.
There is no time table for when the NOPD is expected to start seeing a difference.
The DOJ set up an email address for members of the community to make contact. The address is
community.nopd@usdoj.gov.
