Report: New Orleans Police Department grapples with staffing crisis

By Free Republic | Created at 2024-11-19 17:12:23 | Updated at 2024-11-24 02:02:34 4 days ago

Report: New Orleans Police Department grapples with staffing crisis
Just the news ^ | 11/18/2024 | Nolan McKendry

Posted on 11/19/2024 8:23:03 AM PST by DFG

The New Orleans Police Department is grappling with a staffing crisis, with officer numbers at their lowest since the 1940s and facing mounting financial penalties for falling short of state-mandated thresholds.

According to a report from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor's office, between 2019 and 2023, the department lost 26.6% of its staff in police districts, with a total of 776 employees — both civilian and commissioned — leaving during this period.

Of those departures, 496 were resignations, 205 were retirements, 46 were dismissals and 22 were attributed to death. The exodus has coincided with a steady decline in new recruits, with just 35 recruits joining the force so far in 2024, compared to 88 in 2023, 25 in 2022, and 42 in 2021.

The staffing shortages have triggered financial penalties under Louisiana law, which requires municipalities with significant staffing drops to cover their share of unfunded liabilities in the Municipal Police Employees' Retirement System.

Starting in July 2023, the city of New Orleans has been fined $50,314 monthly, with penalties set to rise to $214,113 per month by July 2024 unless staffing levels rebound. To reverse the penalties, the department would need an estimated 1,100 employees in the system.

The shortage has also raised concerns about the NOPD's ability to comply with a federal consent decree that requires reforms to address longstanding civil rights violations and misconduct. The consent decree, in effect since 2012, mandates fair, unbiased, and constitutional policing.

The department's depleted ranks have strained its capacity to meet these standards, particularly in responding to emergency calls for domestic violence and sexual assault cases.

The federal monitor overseeing the decree highlighted issues with "Gone on Arrival" dispositions, where officers fail to respond promptly to emergency calls.

(Excerpt) Read more at justthenews.com ...

TOPICS: Government
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1 posted on 11/19/2024 8:23:03 AM PST by DFG

To: DFG

Awhile back I watched a YouTube video of some guy talking to two young NYPD cops. All three were on a sidewalk.

The two NYPD cops sounded like they were mentally challenged. They weren’t angry or abusive. They just talked like they were dull (for the lack of a better word).

It looks like these big Democrat cities are in a death spiral when it comes to recruiting new officers. And it’s their own fault, of course.

2 posted on 11/19/2024 8:32:12 AM PST by Leaning Right (It’s morning in America. Again.)

To: DFG

Based on personal experience New Orleans police department is one of the most crooked, cruel and inept in the country. All my charges were dropped,but not before I spent a week in that foul New Orleans parish prison.

3 posted on 11/19/2024 8:41:16 AM PST by rellic (no such thing as a moderate Moslem or Democrat )

To: rellic

I am a graduate of Tulane University in New Orleans in the mid-70s. Your description of the New Orleans PD is all too accurate.

4 posted on 11/19/2024 9:08:24 AM PST by Rockingham

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