The City of New Orleans and the U.S. Department of Justice have agreed that, though the New Orleans Police Department is not yet in full compliance with the federal consent decree?that has had full oversight since 2012, the department is close enough to “full and effective” compliance in key reform areas that it is ready to move into a two-year "sustainability" period.
The joint filing last week of a motion seeking a withdrawal from the decree that has determined nearly every move NOPD has made for more than a decade is a milestone — for the department and for Mayor LaToya Cantrell.
Whether — and when — the consent decree gets lifted is up to U.S.?District Court Judge Susie Morgan, who will consider whether a proposed 28-page sustainability plan will allow the department to operate without strict federal oversight. The monitors?who report to her on progress and backslides would loosen their strings, requiring fewer department audits, if the judge decides to move NOPD into the less restrictive sustainability phase.
Former Mayor Mitch Landrieu deserves credit for seeking the consent decree, which fulfilled a campaign promise. Ditto for every police superintendent in the past 12 years.?
Before their collective tenures, things got so bad in the city that the feds needed to step in to halt the blatant corruption, excessive force, violence against women and commonplace violations of department policies.?
We haven't seen much of that kind of police misconduct in recent years, and department leaders have generally responded quickly when things got off track.?
A lot of the success can be attributed to the NOPD and U.S. Department of Justice teams that worked on a specific, 18-category plan for improvement.?
There are good reasons for federal consent decrees. They typically get failing agencies (particularly in law enforcement) to agree to stop official misconduct — without admitting guilt — while working on a negotiated plan for long-range, sustained improvement.
The list of ills that needed to be erased at NOPD is not one that New Orleans wants to tout. But getting them erased for good is a genuine success story.
The decree's exit ramp is in sight. The question is whether Morgan will wave the DOJ and NOPD into the sustainability lane.?
Morgan knows that some community concerns remain. But there haven't been enough expressions of concern to stall or prevent NOPD from reaching this milestone.
As she received the motion Friday, Morgan said there will be in-person "and/or" virtual community meetings in the coming weeks "to hear community reactions and answer community questions." She also promised a decision on the motion within 45 days.
Morgan no doubt will hear from some people who oppose releasing NOPD from the consent decree. W.C. Johnson, who leads Community United for Change;?Toni Jones, who leads New Orleans for Community Oversight of Police; and?Alicia Plummer, vice president of the New Orleans East Business Association have been some of the most consistent and loudest voices against letting NOPD out of the consent decree.
Some are concerned that they haven't been heard. Some fear Black people will become police victims more often, as was the case before the consent decree.
"We need to talk about why sustainment is premature," Johnson?said in June.
I seriously doubt he's changed his mind.
I'm sure he'll provide his arguments when Morgan provides another opportunity.
If Morgan hears enough to make her uncomfortable granting the motion, then she should deny it — at least for now. She also will have the option of ending sustainability if it's granted.
Short of anything significantly negative, however, Morgan appears ready to move the city and NOPD into sustainability.?
If that happens, a great deal of credit for the past year's work should go to NOPD Chief Anne Kirkpatrick, who quickly developed consent decree-specific relationships, calmed some storms and provided answers to tough questions.
Cantrell should get credit, too.
She pushed NOPD to do better. She made getting out of the consent decree a priority for each superintendent during her tenure as mayor. Though sometimes with great passion and not as much diplomacy, she fought hard to move public safety forward without the consent decree.
Unfortunately for the mayor, the end of sustainability likely won't happen until after Cantrell's second term ends on January 12, 2026, when a new mayor will take the oath of office and lead the city forward.
Still, it'll be a major mayoral bucket-list item she can check.
