Stuff Real Mayors Do

Mayor of Philadelphia spends New Years' Day speaking to inmates.

On New Year's Day, while many Philadelphians were enjoying bowl games and parades, Mayor Nutter was up early and delivering a message of hope - with a little tough love mixed in - to the inmates of seven of the city's correctional facilities.

He was joined by about 40 clergy members, from a number of denominations, for the annual Ecumenical Services and Civic Engagement Visit to the Philadelphia prison system.

Part of Nutter's message to the clergy, which started at a breakfast meeting, was a practical accounting of money and choices.

He said that of the city's nearly $4 billion operating budget, 24 percent is spent on all the components of the criminal-justice system.

"We don't need more incarceration, we need more education," he said. "Some of these people don't need to be locked up, they need a job."

The message to the 200 inmates at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility - his first stop - was just as pragmatic.

"We spend a lot of money to keep track of you up here," Nutter said. He told them it cost $30,000 a year for each prisoner, compared with $10,000 for a community-college student.

"Where do you think I'd rather spend our money?" Nutter said.

--

Before he left Curran-Fromhold, two inmates, Lynwood Ray and Alex Naranjo, presented Nutter with a portrait of him they had painted. He told them he would hang it in City Hall.

Later, Nutter said that it was "painful and personal" to see talent wasted in prison and that the city could be doing more to help inmates.

"It just shows you, when properly motivated and directed, every one of these men and women can be doing something totally different and don't have to be in prison," he said.

When the entourage arrived at the Riverside Correctional Center for women, Nutter received a foot-stomping, hand-clapping, rock-star welcome.

His message was the same. Have a reentry plan. Play by the rules. Stay away from bad influences. And don't return.

"Never, never, never come back to this place," Nutter said to the about 125 women in attendance.

That's all for today's installment of Stuff Real Mayors Do.

Perry outclasses those that bothered to show in CJ reform debate

What an outrage! I cannot believe some campaign produced a largely unoffensive YouTube video! I give the story that an anti-Mitch video was online for all of an hour a big fat who cares. The Gamblog called it "virtual mud," but I call it unnoticeable dandruff. The only thing I don't understand is why a campaign wouldn't just stand behind the video. It's not a swift-boating, it's a PG-rated parody.

I could be wrong though, I noticed Landrieu skipped out on last night's Mayoral forum. Maybe poor Mitch was still crying about that meanie meanster video.

In other news, there was indeed a forum for the Mayoral candidates yesterday on the issue voters and every candidates agree is the most important issue facing the city, criminal justice.

Only James Perry, Troy Henry, Nadine Ramsey, and Ed Murray made it. Seems a bit odd that there would be any no-shows for a forum on the hottest issue in town, let alone three. The Landrieu and Georges campaigns sent representatives with statements. The Couhig campaign avoided it entirely. I guess they felt it was too risky to send someone across State Street after dark.

To dispense with the sarcasm, last night's forum was very interesting. I wish it had been televised. The candidates were asked to sign onto a ten point platform prepared by the host organizations, which included Safe Streets/Strong Communities and the Juvenile Justice Project. The platform is far from radical, it reflects a lot of the principles that a comprehensive community policing strategy ought to entail. Since most candidates profess to support something called "community policing," it was helpful to have a forum in which some of the ideas that actually make "community policing" different from what we have now were spelled out in at least a little bit of detail.

I will paraphrase the platform that candidates were asked to endorse.

1. National search for a reform-oriented police chief
2. End incarcerations for traffic violations and/or municipal offensives; end incarcerations for people charged with "marijuana 1st offense."
3. End practice of charging suspects of simple solicitation with felony crime against nature
4. Prioritize youth/recreation programs, access to drug treatment and mental health services as part of crime prevention strategy.
5. Create incentives in city contracting process to encourage employers to hire formerly incarcerated individuals
6. Establish certificates of good conduct to help those with criminal records find jobs
7. Establish Office of Formerly Incarcerated Affairs in Mayor's Office
8. Convert vacant properties into housing opportunities for formerly incarcerated and low income families
9. Create a public-works style program to improve public transportation
10. Increase youth opportunities by investing in alternatives to incarceration including employment programs, recreation programs; building positive behavior supports in public schools, and rebuilding the Youth Study Center in way that respects human dignity of inmates.

All pretty benign and unobjectionable, don't you think? Certainly, some planks, like the suggestion of a public works style program for public transportation, are entirely vague, but why would a candidate have a problem endorsing a reform platform like this? Wouldn't this platform seem to generally outline what a real community policing strategy would look like?

Strangely, in addition to those candidates that weren't even there, Ed Murray and Nadine Ramsey refused to endorse the suggestions, saying they don't make campaign pledges as a matter of principle (amazing). Only James Perry and Troy Henry did.

James Perry put on a clinic at this debate. He is well-versed in criminal justice reform issues and spoke very decisively, drawing applause on several occasions.

Henry was also a confident speaker but his constant reiteration of his executive experience and desire to bring a CEO's mentality to the Mayor's office did not play particularly well with an audience more geared up to hear about criminal justice reform than economic development. He also left himself open to Perry's implication that certain candidates (Henry) were "empty suits" and "Nagin third-termers."

I don't know Perry's campaign is really up to the challenge of actually winning an election but he certainly won last night's debate and won it pretty damn emphatically.

Murray was totally uninspiring. He is not a good public speaker at all. His mumbling cadance is one thing, but his closing statement, in which he talked about realistic political expectations, was so bad it was almost funny. Even allowing that Murray was providing an genuine reality check, nobody has ever won an election with a message of 'lower your expectations.'

I was surprised that no-show candidates didn't juggle their schedules to attend and astonished that some candidates refused to sign onto the reform platform given the shamefully low approval ratings for the NOPD and the current direction of our much-maligned CJ system.

One would think that candidates would fall all over each other to carry the criminal justice reform mantle. However, Perry didn't really have a whole lot of competition last night.

Clueless

Would Leslie Jacobs, Ed Murray, Troy Henry, John Georges or their campaigns like to dispute the accuracy of the Perry campaign's account of the following exchange at today's debate sponsored by the Afterschool Partnership?

Gina Warner, CEO of the Afterschool Partnership, asked:

“What is your position on the Youth Studies Center?”

--

Troy Henry: I am in favor of the Youth Studies Center. I am in favor of using the youth studies center in collaboration with all the revised library systems that are also being built. So we want to be smart and prudent about how we use our current resources today so where it makes sense to consolidate lets do that but where it makes sense to keep them separate and individual, let’s do that. But we need to make sure we have the Youth Studies Center.

(Nervous laughter)

John Georges: I’m for them as well. We have to be about our facilities. Libraries are certainly one group. It’s all about budgeting and available dollars and the idea is to do like the board of regents ... it’s also a budgetary issue.

(Nervous laughter)

Leslie Jacobs: I think it’s critically important for kids, our students to have a place to go outside of school. Schools have a $1.6 billion rebuilding plan, we need to look how to locate each of these youth studies centers inside our of our school buildings. I think they are important but given the budgetary crisis the more we can co locate with a library, school and other civic centers the easier it will be to staff them and the easier it will be to maintain them."

(Nervous laughter)

Edwin Murray: I too am in support of youth study centers i think it would be great if we could somehow figure out a way to put them in schools and figure out how to just keep the schools open a little longer and also use Library systems across the city. Its important also to try to work in in recreational activities some kind of way to make sure that after school Youth Study Centers to be involved as well to encourage kids in extracurricular activities

(Nervous laughter)

James Perry: I want to be clear because I think some folks misunderstood this issue. The Youth Studies Center is a jail. It is a prison. The subject of some very difficult litigation. Children have been imprisoned for long periods of time with no access to quality eduction at all. We need children to have access to education despite incarceration. If you are locked up for 24 hours a day there is no chance we can decrease the rate. It’s how we define When it comes to juveniles in this system making sure they have a real educational opportunity so that the prison they are in does not define the outcomes of the rest of their lives.

(Raucous Applause)

This is sad. You don't need to be an expert on criminal justice policy generally nor or own local criminal justice system to understand the ongoing plight of children flushed into the hellhole that is the Youth Study Center, you just need to read the news. This is a criminal facility, not a facility appropriate for the detention of accused juvenile criminals. One of the best nonprofits in the city, the Juvenile Justice Project, has a dead serious lawsuit responsible for forcing the concessions made in the treatment of young people held there. Some of those changes include things like prohibiting the denial of medical care, halting 21-hour lock downs, and keeping the place free of rats and mold.

This is not a place to "support" without explanation. If you wanted to give an unsubstantial answer answer to this because you don't really know what you're talking about, the only acceptable statement would be "SHUT IT DOWN."

Now, the account above comes from a Perry campaign press release. Other candidates should feel free to offer an explanation for their ignorance.

Jumping in

I've been thinking through some things the last few days related to this discussion and the pursuit of justice for victims of unrepentant vigilantism during Hurricane Katrina.

After I suggested that some instances of abuse of power might be more easily prosecutable than others and wondered aloud whether or not some sort of truth commission deal might be appropriate for some of the cases, an anonymous commenter points out:

So the family of Emmett Everett, the black man killed by Doctors at Memorial hospital, only deserves an apology while the white cop who torched a black man deserves prison? The family of the black woman who died at the convention center because homeland security blocked ambulances deserves an apology while the police at Danzinger deserve jail?

This is moral relativism at its worse. If you killed someone under the color of law or in an official capacity as a medical care provider, you should pay the price.

We developed the Nurenberg acccords and International Court precisely to prevent people from using "special circumstances" as an excuse for murderous behavior.
Every human has an individual conscience and the history of human progress our of the ranks of primitive primates has been to get them to use it when mob mentality takes hold.

All true.

But earlier in the thread, the same (I think) Anonymous commenter points out:

Trust me, if these ever go to jury no white juror is going to hold the white defendants accountable. In their minds, blacks went wild and they share a collective guilt for the actions of a few, so the innocent ones deserve no sympathy.

So I guess I'm still not sure exactly what it is you do here.

If we have a moral standard for what justice should be in this case - i.e. appropriate criminal penalties for those that committed crimes during Katrina - but no practical means of enforcing the standard, how do you move forward?

Anon is right both about the plank you walk off when discussing moral relativism and about the low likelihood that a local jury would ever convict a DHS bureaucrat that blocked ambulances from the Convention Center or the Doctors at Memorial.

That's why I'm having a hard time resolving this.

Let's take the Memorial case.

I would applaud a criminal case being brought against Anna Pou. I think it is pretty damn clear that she killed Mr. Everett when he could have very easily made it through the evacuation.

But I highly doubt she'd be convicted. The trial would be highly polarizing, perhaps more so than the other cases, since I think people are naturally inclined to be sympathetic toward a medical professional and because of Ms. Pou's public exoneration tour.

So what kind of justice would be handed down from that kind of circus?

I'm curious to engage in a frank discussion about this. I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of my readers are in agreement that these cases should be pursued. But I wonder to what extent impediments to justice exist and whether those impediments limit the ability of our traditional system to actually deliver. Are there practicalities to consider?

--

Moving sideways...

I'm at least comforted by the knowledge the Eric Holder is the Attorney General of the United States. The administration is serious about empowering the Civil Rights Division to do what it is supposed to do. It's not a coincidence that the feds are now actively investigating some of these post Katrina horror stories to see what they might be able to successfully prosecute.

I am hoping Holder will utilize the powers established under the Clinton administration for the Civil Rights Division to take over police departments characterized by rampant civil rights violations. Forces with a "pattern or practice" of civil rights abuse can be effectively taken over using consent decrees. Cities are threatened with civil rights lawsuits unless they agree to a federal police monitor to implement sweeping reforms. Holder came to oversee the Civil Rights Division as Deputy Attorney General just as it began pursuing consent decrees against police departments in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles.

New Orleans was once a candidate for a consent decree from the Department of Justice. This outside pressure played a role in Marc Morial's decision to hire Richard Pennington, who presided over a pretty damn successful reform of the NOPD. Some background here.

This is something that people should pressure our Mayoral candidates about. Would they sign a consent decree to bring in federal oversight of the NOPD or not and why?

Not News: Gun Battle Outside Mayoral Campaign HQ

Yesterday afternoon, I was nearby enough to hear the machine gun fire that occurred right outside Mayoral candidate James Perry's new campaign headquarters.

He's just opened up shop there, right on the corner of Palmyra and S. Dorgenois and his building narrowly avoided getting sprayed with bullets yesterday evening at around 5:30ish.

Apparently, two cars came screaming down Palmyra St. before one opened fire on the other.

Luckily, nobody got hit or hurt.

Remember that this happened just a stone's throw away from Orleans Parish Prison, Orleans Parish Criminal Court, and thus, tons of police officers.

That demonstrates a depressingly bold disregard for consequences. Or, unfortunately, a fearlessness of consequences.

This is why DA Cannizzaro feels he needs to go all bullworth on his own office and the NOPD. We've got a broken criminal justice system...

-

Strangely, the venerable Times-Picayune doesn't think it's news when a mayoral contender has to hit the deck as some nutcase fires off a round right outside his office.

I don't just know about it because I saw him standing outside as the police arrived, James Perry released a statement about the attack within an hour or so of the gun battle.

There was nary a mention of it in today's paper.

What gives? Was the story about the guy masturbating in a parking lot really so important that it couldn't be bumped from B-2?

Perry's statement is here.

New Orleans, LA – James Perry, New Orleans Mayoral candidate, released the following statement on the gun battle that occurred moments ago just outside his campaign headquarters.

James Perry, New Orleans Mayoral Candidate: “The gun battle outside my campaign headquarters brings home a point many of us know all too well: we will not be able to move forward as a city until we solve our public safety crisis.”

“Our city’s future depends on our ability to confront violence in our communities today. Our public safety crisis puts our families needlessly in danger, keeps our city from moving forward and attracting more and better jobs. Confronting violence will not be easy, but as we proved many times before, we are resilient, we are strong, and together, we are capable of fixing our public safety crisis.”

“I thank God that no one was injured, and I ask him for continued strength in our campaign to bring safety to our city’s streets. But make no mistake, even a hail of gunfire on the sidewalk outside of my campaign headquarters will not discourage me from my mission to become Mayor and make our city safe. In fact, it strengthens my resolve to fight for this city and its future so that we can finally have the New Orleans we all deserve, not the New Orleans we have today.”

At 5:20pm a fierce gun battle occurred in front of the James Perry for Mayor Headquarters located at 2547 Palmyra Street in New Orleans, LA. Perry and his entire campaign were inside the office as approximately 20-30 shots rang out. No one was injured and the New Orleans Police Department is currently on the scene.

DA Cannizzaro on truth serum

Via AZ

You definitely gotta check this out.

It's video of our District Attorney getting all candid in an official capacity. He calls out the NOPD and his own office, tells the truth about how effed up our criminal justice system is right now.

A city incapable of policing its own police

Given this and this (and so many more paper cut and mortal wound examples), is it yet the conventional wisdom that our NOPD has regressed to the low levels of public confidence and effectiveness that nearly brought about a consent decree receivership with the Department of Justice in the mid-1990's?

Is discourse going to be such that a mayoral campaign promise of a "national search" for a new police chief will be code for a recognition of the panacea of problems with the incumbent NOPD leadership? Or are candidates going to be challenged to make a more precise diagnosis?

Dude, Where's My Ordinance?

Updated

I listened live to Council testimony as DA Cannizzaro made the pitch for moving simple marijuana possession arrests out of the criminal court system. He was off-the-agenda a little bit so the matter will go before the criminal justice committee next week some time I think.

Councilman Carter asked Mr. Cannizzaro to advise him on the language necessary for a draft ordinance.

That sounds pretty damn promising if you ask me.

Why was this so impossible to do for so many years?

Update:

It look like the judges in criminal court might be stuck in the past in this one. I hope they won't obstruct this important reform.

I'm not sure what their logic is.

I would hope that a City Council ordinance mandating that possession cases be tried in municipal court could pass unanimously.

Can Anyone Verify?

Reference here.

PANO's Frank DeSalvo directed the Human Resources Committee for current District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's transition team.

Who held the equivalent position under disgraced former DA Eddie Jordan?

Frank and Leon

Observe the chronology of statements from Frank DeSalvo related to the incident at the Beach Corner and ensuing cover up discussed below.

DeSalvo has been the go-to lawyer for the Police Association of New Orleans and for pretty much any officer accused of a crime.

DeSalvo represented every officer investigated in this case.


1. From February 2008, after news of the Beach Corner dispute became public:

Frank DeSalvo, an attorney for the officers involved in the fight, disputed the assertion that racism played a role in the fight. "They want to call this racism?" he said. "Well, racism works both ways. What the (NOPD) is doing is wrong. They are taking the best of the best officers off the streets because of this. It hurts the city."

I don't really understand what he means by 'racism works both ways.' Is he saying the RTA employees are racist for filing a complaint against the officers that beat them and planted evidence? Or is he calling Riley a racist for putting the accused white officers on desk duty?

2. From April of 2009, after disciplinary action was taken against two of the officers:

Frank DeSalvo, an attorney representing Lapene, said the officer did not strike anybody during the brawl. Witnesses have wrongly identified Lapene as being involved, he said.

"It is a clear case of mistaken identity," said DeSalvo, who added that the officer plans to appeal to the Civil Service Commission. "We are very, very disappointed in the decision."

In claiming mistaken identity, isn't DeSalvo essentially saying that it must have been one of his other clients?

3. On Jennifer Samuels' suspension (she was the one who apparently took a gun from another RTA worker's car):

DeSalvo said she will eventually be cleared, and that the only mistake Samuel made was drinking off-duty and getting involved in police work.

"She stopped a violent act from happening," he said.

Again, it's not clear what DeSalvo is arguing here. Is he working off the original report that lead to Lamont Williams' arrest even though charges were immediately dropped because of contradictory statements? Or is he saying something else? The mistaken identity comment seems to be based on the premise that Williams was attacked but the Samuel defense would seem to rely on the original report, on which civilian witness David McMyne admits to lying after being coached by the police.

4. Upon release of the Public Integrity Bureau report on the incident:

The NOPD said there was insufficient evidence to sustain allegations against Ganthier, Boudreau and Jason Samuel, and they were not disciplined.

DeSalvo, the police attorney, noted Thursday that this lends credence to his assertion that the internal investigation was botched.

"When you put everything together, you'll find that the (PIB) report is a lie, " he said.

DeSalvo promised the facts of the case would come out in the officers' appeal hearings.

Here, he seems to be arguing that because three of the other officers present - and probably responsible to some degree for the fight, improper arrest of Williams, and attempts to game the police report cover up their actions - were not charged, the entire internal investigation should be thrown out.

5. Upon filing suit against the PIB:

"There were some lies involved, and they all came from the Public Integrity Bureau," DeSalvo said. "None of these officers involved in this incident were found to be untruthful."

The attorney for the accused officers said the police department's investigation is flawed and that Sgt. Darryl Watson, who conducted the investigation, may have broken the law.

"He filed a false police report," the attorney said. "They have been disseminating it. There have been repercussions to police officers because of it and now it's time for him to eat his words and we are going to feed it to him."

Setting the menacing threat aside, it's quite a stretch to say that "none of the officers involved in this incident were found to be untruthful" given how obvious it is that Mr. Lamont Williams was arrested on weapons charges without possessing a gun, a witness admitted to being coached by police to lie, and that Williams was brutalized.

I mean if it's clear that one or more of the officers took part in some serious criminal conduct - be it assault, planting evidence, or coaching a witness to lie - how can DeSalvo credibly represent all of those involved? Invariably, at least one of them did something seriously wrong.

That's not to say his representation hasn't been effective, because as we can see, it would appear as though the NOPD officers are getting off pretty much scot-free. Even Lapene landed soft with the DA and although he resigned from that job, his firing from the NOPD is still under appeal with the civil service commission.

--

I will give DeSalvo this:

That PIB report is pretty poorly written. Lots of grammar errors and clarity problems.

I can relate.

--

Mr. DeSalvo is quite close to our District Attorney, Leon Cannizzaro.

A dispatch from the DA's swearing-in:

Cannizzaro, who enjoyed a 22-year career as a judge until retiring from the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal last year to run for district attorney, was treated to a lengthy, thoughtful ceremony Sunday, attended by a few hundred people, including a host of elected city and state officials.

"It looks like a coronation," campaign strategist Billy Schultz joked as he opened the ceremony, which featured a full-length program of speakers including defense attorney Frank DeSalvo; Clerk of Civil District Court Dale Atkins; state Rep. Austin Badon Jr., D-New Orleans; Magistrate Commissioner Anthony Russo; and City Council President Jackie Clarkson.

In fact, DeSalvo was a formal part of Cannizzaro's transition team.

Guess what he was in charge of?

Human resources.

Thus, it wouldn't seem to be too much of a stretch to imagine that Lapene was hired partially on the recommendation of Mr. DeSalvo. Lapene and his former unit continue to count on DeSalvo as their attorney. At the time of Lapene's hiring, a criminal investigation into the incident should have been ongoing except for the fact that Cannizzaro's office had deemed the entire matter to be a matter for civil courts a few months earlier.

Without going over the top about this, I don't think we should feel too comfortable about the close personal relationship between Mr. DeSalvo and Mr. Cannizzaro given how commonplace allegations of criminality against the police have been and given that public mistrust of the criminal justice system is a main factor contributing to the deterioration of the rule of law in this city.

Certainly a fuller explanation of why the NOPD and DA handled the Beach Corner fight the way they did is warranted, particularly as it relates to the decision to hire Mr. Lapene.

--

The bar fight and the blurry blue line

Cliff wrote last week that the the NOPD has an image problem, linking to a few of the latest embarrassments.

I'd argue that the NOPD has a reality problem.

One example Cliff discussed was the fight at the Beach Corner bar.

Now, stories like this could trigger a few uncomfortable discussions about race and the police department. It could cause an officer or two to get fired or indicted. If everything in these stories is true then I think that's a good thing. At the least all of the officers involved in that bar fight should be terminated. If they can get away with lying and planting guns on innocent people then I don’t have any confidence in their capabilities to catch the guilty. If you want to eliminate the race card and conspiracy theories out of local government then you have to correct the things that make it so believable.

Cliff touches on it but let's really flesh out what's gone on here.

--

1. In February, 2008, there was a fight at the Beach Corner Lounge. Lamont Williams of the RTA was arrested on weapons charges. Opposing accounts of the evening emerged a few weeks later after Williams and his coworkers retained the services of an attorney and filed a complaint.

The initial police report, compiled by the responding officers, describes the incident in detail -- and includes two starkly conflicting versions.

In one version -- told by [Hans] Ganthier, [Jason] Samuel and a 29-year-old Kenner resident -- the men disarmed Williams, taking a gun from him.

Both Ganthier and Samuel said a gun had been taken from Williams. The Kenner resident, Donald McMyne, agreed. McMyne could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

According to the report, the three men gave the following account:

McMyne said he was sitting at the bar and heard there was a disturbance in the men's restroom. As Lamont Williams left the restroom and walked toward the front door, McMyne was sitting on a barstool and said he told Williams to "just relax and calm down." While walking toward the front door, Williams "lifted the front of his shirt exposing a dark-colored handgun," McMyne told police.

Williams left the lounge and McMyne followed him out. Next, McMyne said, he tackled Williams from behind, and they struggled. The two off-duty officers joined in and assisted in removing the handgun from Williams, McMyne said.

Williams and his RTA coworkers told a different story.

Hagan, who is black, said he left three co-workers to use the restroom. While waiting in line, a white man walked in and skipped the line. Hagan told the line-skipper that he was next in line, and the man responded: "Oh, you getting (expletive) cocky with me?"

Hagan advised the man to "just go ahead" and left the restroom and told his co-workers they should leave. While walking out, Hagan said someone whistled and "a large group of unknown white males" approached him and his co-workers. The co-workers split up.

The men followed Hagan, Damon Tobias, 27, Williams and Kisa Holmes, 31, outside the bar and on Canal Street. After getting into his car, Hagan said, he told the group of men following him, and a woman who had joined them, that he had a gun and "if I have to use it to defend myself I will."

At that point, the unidentified woman swore at him, reached into the glove compartment of his truck and removed the handgun. Hagan said the woman then put him into "some type of arm hold" and detained him. The woman eventually released him and he went to the aid of his colleague who was being attacked.

Tobias told police he was attacked by a group of men who followed him from the lounge. A third colleague, Holmes, corroborated her colleagues' version and said she saw the group attack them from afar. She had fled from the scene. The group said they believed their alleged attackers were off-duty officers, the report said.

The NOPD opened an investigation upon the citizen complaint. Warren Riley told WWLTV there would be accountability.

"There will be no cover-up. There will be hiding no information. If these officers were wrong, they will suffer the consequences of their actions."

Three officers were reassigned from the special operations unit pending the outcome of the investigation including Sergeant Hans Ganthier, and Officers Jason Samuel and Joey* Lapene.

*For some reason earlier media accounts refer to "Joey" Lapene whereas later ones refer to him as "David" Lapene. He's just one person. I will call him David.

2. In February of 2009, Mr. Lamont sues the NOPD, the city, and the three officers.

The lawsuit alleges that several off-duty police officers used excessive force and falsely arrested Lamont Williams, 36, in an apparent dispute between Regional Transit Authority employees and off-duty police officers last year.

A criminal inquiry was opened, but a spokeswoman for District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said Friday that the district attorney believes the incident is a civil matter. She declined to comment further.

The NOPD recently finished its own administrative investigation and is holding disciplinary hearings for the officers, NOPD spokesman Bob Young said. Once those hearings are completed, the police superintendent will have the final say on whether penalties will be handed down to the officers.

3. In late April of 2009, Officer David Lapene is fired from the NOPD for his role in the fight.

Officer David Lapene was dismissed after a hearing and a "thorough review of the evidence," according to a department news release. He was found to have broken four regulations of the department.

Lapene violated regulations governing moral conduct, adherence to the law, truthfulness and professional conduct, the NOPD news release said.

Another officer, Jennifer Payne, was suspended without pay for 80 days as a result of the same investigation, NOPD spokesman Bob Young said Thursday night.

Payne was the woman accused of seizing Mr. Hagan's handgun in the initial report.

*Note: Jennifer Payne is sometimes referred to as Jennifer Samuel. She is married to officer Jason Samuel, who was also investigated as part of the bar incident.

4. Between May and June of 2009, David Lapene is hired by DA Leon Cannizzaro before subsequently resigning.

Cannizzaro has defended Lapene's hiring to WDSU. He said Lapene's case was reviewed by the two previous interim district attorneys, and both times there were no charges filed. After looking at the file, Cannizzaro said agrees with that decision.

Prior to Lapene's resignation, it was reported that the District Attorney's daughter, Laura Cannizzaro was present at the bar during the incident in 2008.

5. In July, 2009 the investigation by Public Integrity Bureau into the incident at the Beach Corner leaks to the public.

An internal report from the New Orleans Police Department Thursday night suggested that several officers lied about what happened at the Beach Corner Bar and Grill in February 2008.

--

Another part of the internal report states that a civilian man named Donald McMyne was also part of the investigation. He told investigators that he never saw the fight, but later an officer told him what happened. McMyne stated that that officer asked him to lie.

Also, Officer Jennifer Samuel changed her story several times, according to the report. The report states that Samuel removed Kennis Hagan's personal gun from his parked car, and the remaining officers conspired to falsely arrest Williams for possession of Hagan's firearm. They then convinced the civilian to participate in the conspiracy. The civilian has since admitted to the conspiracy, which was documented in an official NOPD arrest report.Investigators also noted that Officer David Lapene admitted that he exited the bar right behind Damon Tobias. He admitted to walking behind Tobias when he claimed an unknown person swung over his shoulder and punched Tobias in the face. He repeatedly denied punching Tobias, even though Kisa Holmes identified him at the scene as the person who punched Tobias.

6. Just last week, PANO sued the Public Integrity Bureau and the Officer who filed the investigation for how the case was handled - though it's not clear to me on what grounds other than... well, revenge.

The attorney for the accused officers said the police department's investigation is flawed and that Sgt. Darryl Watson, who conducted the investigation, may have broken the law.

"He filed a false police report," the attorney said. "They have been disseminating it. There have been repercussions to police officers because of it and now it's time for him to eat his words and we are going to feed it to him."

--

The PID report is available at NOLA.com.

I downloaded and read the report.

The details are quite striking, particularly when the civilian witness, Donald McMyne, admits he was coached by officers to fabricate his entire story about recognizing the alleged bathroom dispute, seeing a gun on Mr Lamont, and tackling him from behind. Apparently none of that actually happened.

---

There are so many burning questions here...

For the NOPD, remember Riley's words:

"There will be no cover-up. There will be hiding no information. If these officers were wrong, they will suffer the consequences of their actions."

1. Since it is clear that this incident involved several officers from the Special Operations Division and a transparent attempt to cover up what actually transpired, why has only one officer, David Lapene, been fired?

2. Did the firing of Lapene and suspension of Samuels represent attempts to find fall guys for an incident that fingers Riley's elite unit? Is there a pattern of special treatment for SWAT and Special Ops units emerging?

3. Given how shockingly casual these elite NOPD officers were about planting evidence, coaching false witnesses, and providing false accounts to their own investigators, what is to prevent the public from simply assuming that this stuff occurs rather regularly?

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For the DA, refer to the statement from Mr. Cannizzaro's office:

A criminal inquiry was opened, but a spokeswoman for District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said Friday that the district attorney believes the incident is a civil matter. She declined to comment further.

4. Was Mr. Cannizzaro aware of the PID report when he hired Mr. Lapene?

5. If not, is the DA reconsidering the prospect of criminal prosecution?

6. Did you discuss the incident at the bar with your daughter and aspirant assistant DA, Laura Cannizzaro?

7. Why did Ms. Cannizzaro refuse to answer questions when she was approached by Public Integrity Division investigators the night of the incident?

8. What was her role in the hiring of Lapene?

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More later.

Public Safety, Crime, the NOPD, and the 2010 Mayoral Circus

That's the theme for the next weekish here at WCBF.

This is an open thread as I work to prepare some stories and analysis to publish at my convenience.

Is crime a problem by itself or a symptom of other problems?

What should the next Mayor do in an ideal world and to what extent do real world political constraints limit those options?

Links Update:

1. NOPD's misleading rape stats
2. Investigations into racist vigilante killings during Katrina moving forward?
3. NOPD bar fight cover up

Links Update 2:

4. Audit finds $200,000 missing from NOPD evidence room

Asshole Cops Need Jail Time

Look at this bs!

The cops accused of murdering Adolph Grimes were the same cops that brutalized the Crutchfield family earlier that night.

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I hear NOPD horror story after NOPD horror story living in this city. I hate it. Enough is enough.

Meeting in my mind

NOPD broken all over this city. Looks increasingly as though officers murdered this young man after which the administration waged a PR campaign to destroy the victim's reputation.

Disgusting conduct.

In Oakland, young man named Oscar Grant was murdered by a police officer on the same day as Mr. Adolph Grimes and there were days of tense and sometimes destructive protests.

In other local state brutality news, litigation against the city for Gitmo-like conditions at a juvenile detention facility has expanded into a much larger class-action suit.

You can leave children in solitary confinement for weeks at at time.

That's torture.

But this kind of stuff is all in a day's news in this city with this city's criminally broken justice system.

Maybe not my place

But I'm not really okay with this.

Juveniles should be tried as juveniles, right?

Call me old fashioned.

Wear Red, Skip Work, Make Trouble

Big day tomorrow.

Official Warren Riley Memorial List of Grievances to come sometime later today...

Update - I even wore red pajamas last night.

Mary Landrieu, Call James Webb

This is exactly the type of "risk" our recently reelected Senator should be taking. GOP hegemony on all issues related to crime, law, and order is dependent upon linguistic device - not policy.

Louisiana's criminal justice system is beyond broken. Forging a path to addressing some of the problems would be Mary Landrieu's greatest accomplishment as an elected official.

As a conservative Democrat, Mary Landrieu could do a lot to 'mainstream' criminal justice reform.

Not only does she have the seniority and centrist gravitas to be listened to by red state colleagues wary of the political risks of advocating for CJ reform, but she'd be well-positioned to earn credit for any successes that come down the road.

With six whole years before her next reelection campaign, she has enough political capital to invest in actual progress. I can't think of a better issue on which to take an unexpectedly bold stance.

Katrina, the Left, and New Orleans Today

This article from the Nation is a painful read for a variety of reasons.

The investigation by A.C. Thompson details white vigilantism at Algiers Point during the immediate aftermath of Katrina. A group of white neighbors formed a militia to keep Algiers safe, which for them meant terrorizing African Americans, murdering them, shooting them in the back without any justification beyond what might be charitably described as a sick cowardly prejudice.

Thompson was able to interview some of the racist citizens who took up arms against victims of the floods. They express no remorse, instead glorifying themselves as protectors.

It makes your skin crawl.

Color of Change is pushing this petition, which calls on Governor Jindal, State Attorney General Caldwell, and the Justice Department to investigate racist vigilante shootings.

I have signed it and I recommend that you do too.

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Yet on another level, I hate how the piece was written and am disheartened by Color of Change's call.

A little weird, I know, but let me try to explain.

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One of the things I thought the article lacked was a complete context. Dambala gets at some of this in his reaction to Mr. Thompson's work. There's something gratuitous about the use of the phrase 'race war' in reference to what happened on Algiers point. Maybe I'm the one overgeneralizing a little bit here but my sense is that only a certain "type" of white guy chooses not to evacuate during a huge hurricane threat but instead to stick around with a gun collection. "Choose" being an extremely operative word that provides a not so insignificant contrast to the majority of people with basic means that chose to evacuate and to the masses of poor black people without those basic means that had no choice but to stay.

But maybe it's parsing to get all bent out of shape over the use of that phrase. We're a little bit sensitive to it I think because 'war' implies a certain ubiquity, implies that everyone was involved and that everyone chose a side. It totally oversimplifies the issue of race, but particularly so for the city of New Orleans, which has a complex history of racial tribalism that is not as simple as black vs. white. I think that I would have gone with "Katrina's unrepentant supremacist terrorists" instead of "Katrina's hidden race war," but that's just me.

The much more consequential whiff, on Thompson's part, was the failure to contextualize these vigilante killings as a part of a chaotic whole. He pays only lip service to the reality that there were scores upon scores of murders and rumored murders on the East Bank during Katrina. He couches the NOPD's failure to keep records during the storm or to disclose public records to him as specific to his investigation of the shootings on Algiers Point.

We know that there were grizzly acts of violence committed throughout the city during that time, by citizens, by the NOPD, by black people, by white people, by Ray Nagin, by Kathleen Blanco, by Michael Brown, by the Army Corps of Engineers, and by President Bush. Thompson cherry-picks a specific incident and doesn't do nearly enough to place it into the context of what was a much larger event. He boils down the entire injustice that was Katrina and the Federal Flood AND decades of systematizing racism via the criminal justice system into a digestible 'nobody is investigating these rednecks!'

But I don't want to just blame A.C. Thompson.

Color of Change should consider its reaction to this story.

They call on us to get to force "Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, and the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the racist shootings, and to demand accountability from Louisiana's dysfunctional criminal justice system."

Certainly, it's a noble thing to ask for, but at the same time, it's also short-sighted and maybe even a little bit selfish.

Even if Bobby Jindal were to call on an investigation and supposing that NOPD was able to piece together charges based on records they never kept and evidence they don't have, would it really be credible enough in a court of law to yield a conviction? What kind of healing would that bring for the victims? What about all the other horror stories from those days? Are we investigating all of them? Are criminal convictions possible for any of them?

What we need is an independent federal investigation into all of it: All of the vigilante killings, all of NOPD's desertions, all of Nagin's mistakes, all of Brownie's incompetence, all of Bush's neglect, and the Army Corps of Engineers for the failure of the federal levee systems. We need the truth and we need accountability, but what we really need is healing. Color of Change's call, even if it succeeds in precipitating an investigation into what happened in Algiers, is just as likely to salt our civic wounds as it is to sanitize them.

We needed it starting in late 2005 and we still need it today. Color of Change isn't going nearly far enough. They're flailing in Bobby Jindal's direction in reaction to the Thompson piece instead of actually putting forth a proposal that might help usher New Orleanians toward some sort of closure.

But again, I don't just want to call out Thompson and Color of Change. This instance is emblematic of the larger role that Katrina and New Orleans play in national political discourse.

For the nation, the federal response Katrina signalled a final deathblow to President Bush and conservative governing philosophy. Polls demonstrate that the public pretty much turned on the GOP for good as a result of the Katrina saga. The PR battle that took place between the parties was one in which the Right blamed Nagin and the natives for their lack of "personal responsibility," while the Left (and the vast vast majority of the country) blamed Bush and his henchmen for their inexplicable and inexcusable inability to respond to an entirely predictable catastrophe in a major American city.

Since then, national analysis of New Orleans is through these lenses, not just the lens of 'Katrina' but the lenses of were was the immediate partisan reactions to Katrina.

The Left, during Katrina, was justifiably incensed over the way that African Americans were labeled "looters" while whites just looking for food. That's why it is unsurprising to see the lions of the liberal netroots (HuffPo, Think Progress, Color of Change) seize upon this story - it scores points in that old front against racist right wing media portrayal.

Katrina is an eternally smoldering political fire, that actual people live here New Orleans is an abstraction that most don't, can't, and won't think about in the midst of the constant drone of the 24 hour news cycle. That the story of New Orleans continues, that it takes on new twists and turns, that its existence continues to be tenuously propped up on a three-legged stool of racism, corruption, and incompetence seems lost on much of the progressive netroots, on thinkers who I respect greatly and read every day.

The most frustrating thing to me is that the progressive netroots really can be of great assistance in this city, without really sacrificing the opportunity to score those political points.

It's great that Color of Change is pushing Bobby Jindal to investigate these vigilante shootings and I'm sure they'd also support a real truth commission for Katrina, but neither option is particularly viable in the short, medium, or long terms unless we start changing course at the municipal level.

What we really could use at this moment is help forcing the reopening of Charity Hospital and help preventing the needless demolition the historic black neighborhood of Lower Mid City. That fight is right now. It has real tangible consequences for the African American community, it speaks to national progressive issues, and Bobby Jindal is an obstacle.

For Color of Change and other progressive/netroots orgs, it's a battle they ought to be itching to join.

Save Lower Mid City, Reopen Charity

It's real in our lives right now.

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*One of the biggest reasons national progressive advocacy organizations seem to be so ignorant as to the situation here is that local bloggers, myself very very much included, do a horrendous job of communicating to an audience that isn't totally ensconsed in the daily municipal minutia. We can definitely do a better job summarizing things more regularly for a national audience in a way that imparts the critical concepts without oversaturating names and locations. To that end, I'm crossposting this at Kos.

Connick Calls for Riley's Ouster

He wrote a letter to the editor of the T-P:

Police Superintendent Warren Riley should be fired. And the district attorney should charge him with malfeasance.

Tough times for Nagin partisans.

Riley's foibles have been well-documented on the internet.

Inexplicable incompetence + outdated ideology = ineffective and untrustworthy police department

Meanwhile, Crime Is Fought

From the T-P:

More than a dozen of Kendrick Thomas' friends stood outside his house Tuesday afternoon, steps from the spot where he was shot dead the night before.

They hugged, commiserated, and most of all, seethed with anger.

"Why, someone please tell me why, that camera isn't working?" asked Thomas' stepfather, Jimmie Ricks. "A girl got shot right over there weeks ago. Some boys got shot right there. Why is this camera not working?

"Mayor Nagin: Please handle your business, " he pleaded.

But even if crime cameras are operational, and that's been a big if, have the crime cameras helped prosecute any cases?

Crime cameras have been used by the DA's office in about 3 cases out of 12,000 arrests.

On average, since Hurricane Katrina hit the area, police have made roughly 12,000 felony arrests per year. The district attorney's office accepts anywhere between 7,000 to 8,000 of those cases on average.

In a written statement, the district attorney's office told WDSU prosecutors have "utilized" crime camera video in three cases during the last year.

Additionally, the annual cost of maintenance is somehow greater than the cost of the original cameras.

"Unless you can show third-party validation that we'll have 200-plus cameras up and working every day of the year and that they can be used by prosecutors as evidence, I think we're throwing good money after bad," Fielkow said.

Head put the budgetary problem in perspective. She noted the city spent $7,500 maintaining and upgrading each of 240 cameras in 2008 when it only cost $6,240 to purchase and install a brand new camera. At a proposed $1.6 million for 2009, the maintenance and restoration cost would still be higher than buying new cameras, at about $6,600 per unit.

Hurricane Gustav knocked out 100 of the cameras, and Head said the city's current goal is only to restore 200 cameras, which would yield an even higher per-unit maintenance cost. She said she wants to see the budget proposal cut by $1 million, leaving only enough to maintain the current array of cameras, at least until their usefulness can be established.

It would appear that the NOPD has more pressing concerns anyway.

Police Superintendent Warren Riley is embroiled in a controversy after a series of blistering reports about the state of the NOPD evidence room. Conditions have deteriorated to the point that criminal evidence has become damaged. Lax security has lead to the loss or theft of $19,000 in seized drug money. Poor documentation, substandard storage, and the overall lack of basic adherence to legal standards will ruin cases and set scores of alleged criminals free.

And it should.

How could anyone ever convict somebody based on "evidence" kept by this NOPD?

The scandal again calls into question the basic integrity of the criminal justice system, raising concerns even about cases in which prosecutors were able to secure a guilty verdict.

Also at issue is why the NOPD failed to correct the problems at the evidence room after weeks and months of repeated warnings.

Meanwhile, our new District Attorney took office this week and got to his first order of businesses promptly:

Lobbying City Council not to cut $1.3 million from his budget as the Mayor had requested.

Cannizaro now has about a week before he has to go before the New Orleans City Council to ask for more money.

Mayor Ray Nagin's budget proposal does not replace the federal funds now paying for dozens of investigators and clerical workers.

"I understand I need five votes on the council to over-ride the mayor's veto of his refusal to place the $1.3-million in budget which we need in order to keep those 34 employees.

Everything is as it should be, no?


UPDATE:

Deon Roberts finds that actually crime cameras don't work anywhere.

Not only do I not want to keep pumping maintenance money into these things. I want to take down what's up and put it up for sale. There are schoolchildren with no textbooks in this city.