THE LIFE OF RILEY

Dr. A and I have gone to almost every Second District NONPACC meeting for the last 6 years. (The acronym is obscure but it's essentially citizens meeting the police from our Uptown district. ) Attendance waxes and wanes, depending on the public mood. There is a core of 15 or so neighborhood leaders and representatives who always go but last night there was a pretty large turnout. Chief Riley and Councilwomen Head and Midura were there as well. Pre-K we almost never saw our elected officials at NONPACC meetings but, for both good and ill, that has changed.

I was glad that Riley showed up to take some of the heat. The NOPD has become so bureaucratized and centralized that the District Commanders don't have as much clout as they should. In replying to several questions, Chief Riley tried to walk us through the process of who is assigned to handle different types of cases and it struck me as unnecessarily complex. I thought that I had a fairly good handle on the process but I felt caught in a maze at times last night. NOPD needs to simplify these processes as well as decentralize specific units such as homicide and narcotics.

Initially, Riley spoke in the bureaucratese that's he known for but at a certain point he reduced the jargon and sounded more like a regular person. He ought to try doing that more often as well as being as candid as he was during the last hour he answered questions. Riley's bluntness was both surprising and refreshing. Of course, I somehow doubt that the Mayor wants Riley to show his more appealing side: there's only one star in the Nagin administration and he gets petulant and jealous when anyone else gets any good pub. That was *one* of the reasons that Eddie Compass was shown the door.

Most of the questions posed to Chief Riley were both thoughtful and put him on the hot seat. Unfortunately, the worst and I daresay dumbest questions of the night came from Councilmember Shelly Midura. Her heart is in the right place but the more I see of her the more convinced I become that she's not the brightest bulb in the lamp. In contrast, Stacy Head was in full ankle biting terrier mode. Her best moment came when she asked Riley why NOPD hasn't accepted an offer from Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee to loan us a mobile crime van with cameras for surveillance purposes. The only string Lee has attached is that one of his people has to operate the equipment. Riley gave a non-answer but reading between the lines I can tell that he doesn't want to give up any control and that his boss, the Mayor, doesn't want to accept a visible favor from Harry Lee. It's okay for us to use their crime lab BUT this would get on TeeVee.

Riley also made some excellent points about NOPD's retention problems, which echo comments made by Captain Eddie Hosli at past meetings. Many officers lost their homes and their families are still not in town for all the familiar reasons shared by so many others. And cities such as Atlanta and Houston are offering 7 to 10K signing bonuses as well as larger salaries. If something isn't done to pay our cops more, NOPD will only consist of inexperienced patrol officers and folks above the rank of Sergeant.

The more I listened to Riley the more I became convinced that the biggest impediments to change in the criminal justice system are C Ray and District Attorney Slow Eddie Jordan. (The Judges are another kettle of fish and I'm not going there today.) C Ray's mindless optimism does NOT lend itself to dealing with intractable problems: his answer is always to say "hey man, we trying harder, man." Unfortunately difficult problems such as violent crime can't be solved by facile statements and wishful thinking.

Then there's Eddie Jordan who has been a disaster from the very day he took office. Jordan was elected with Dollar Bill's support and Jordan allowed the Jefferson people to control all patronage at the DA's office. Morale there has never recovered from the purge conducted by Dollar Bill's hatchet chick, Stephanie Butler. A bunch of fired employees, mostly white, sued Jordan for wrongful termination. The DA's office lost the suits but has, of course, never paid any claims or reinstated anyone. Frankly, none of the fired employees wanted to return.

Jordan's conviction rate was dismal pre-K and has gotten even worse post-K. Chief Riley also described the difficulty he's had dealing with the DA as well as several commitments that Jordan has reneged on. At one point, Riley and Jordan went to Atlanta to see how the police and DA's office in Fulton County screen cases. They have ADAs on duty to field calls from the police to let them know if there's probable cause to make a solid arrest. Jordan agreed to implement such a screening program here but has never done so. More recently, Riley proposed that the DAs office get involved in homicide cases from the git go. Again, Jordan has declined to go along with this very good idea.

Did I buy everything that Chief Riley was selling? Absolutely not. He's a dedicated bureaucrat who has advanced through the ranks by keeping his head down, playing politics and not making waves. He also has centralized too much power in his office when I think it would be wiser to give the District commanders more authority and leeway. 

The best thing I heard all evening was that foot patrols are starting in various parts of the city. I haven't seen anyone walking the beat yet but when I do I plan to chat them up. Second District Commander Eddie Hosli has taken the foot patrol a step further (pun, of course, intended) and is requiring his patrol officers to "get out the car" for at least one hour per shift. For years, Captain Hosli has said that the worst thing that happened to police-community relations is when the cops got airdish in their cars. They hear less and no longer talk to the people they're hired to protect and serve.

My suggestion to my New Orleans readers is this: be persistent. Go to your District NONPACC meetings, ask questions and hold them accountable but try talking to the cops on a human level. Police Officers span the entire spectrum from the best to the worst and everything in between. The more they interract with law abiding citizens the better for all concerned.

Finaly, Warren Riley gave a detailed interview to Gambit this week. Here's a link. Also, here a link to the page on the NOPD's web site that lists community meetings.

tags: nola  crime  nopd  

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