NOPD and the Consent Decree


The NOPD and the Consent Decree:  An Election Issue

VOTE



If a candidate for mayor or a city council seats says that the 2013 Consent Decree hampers the efforts of police officers to maintain law and order in the city, listen politely and request that the candidate provide a written explanation of the reasoning that validates the statement.  If you want something to play with, esteemed candidates,  please know the Consent Decree is not a toy.



VOTE



VICs (very important citizens) need to know the lead headline for Crime Safety Report 1.3 (August 2017) announces:   "Consent Decree CAUSES Crime."  The logic of this cause and effect proposition is suspect. Nevertheless, it is aided and abetted by a statement attributed to Captain Michael Glasser, head of the Police Association of New Orleans----



"The decree is extremely restrictive.  It's  labor intensive.  There's a great deal of scrutiny, and there's a presumption that officers are guilty of any complaint that's made against them."



Read the decree at nola.gov.  It does demand the kind of scrutiny that affirms the rule of law and minimizes the role of madness.  Only a twisted hermeneutics authorizes our saying the decree presumes "officers are guilty of any complaint that's made against them."  The decree does not abrogate presumption of innocence, a principle of criminal law.



VOTE



In his interview with Mike Weinberger, founder of the Home Defense Foundation, HdfNOLA.org, Captain Glasser  is alleged to have said



"Officers feel as though there is no support from the community, there's no support from the people they work for, and that everything they do creates potential personal liability."



The broad indictment of the community, the people, does not dovetail with a growing sentiment among the people that officers, who have begun to behave more intelligently and reasonably under the decree,  merit support.



VOTE



What does it profit us to demonize the consent decree as a way of refusing to confront the multiple factors in New Orleans that do actually cause crime?



Jerry W. Ward, Jr.            August 2, 2017




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