New Orleans poised to exit federal police oversight as consent decree nears end

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/50073268

After more than a dozen years of federal oversight, a judge will finally decide whether New Orleans can police itself again.

U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan is expected to end the consent decree that has governed the NOPD since 2013. The city voluntarily entered the agreement following a federal investigation that found systemic problems including excessive force, biased policing and inadequate training and supervision.

The final hearing in U.S. v. The City Of New Orleans is scheduled for Wednesday morning at Loyola University Law School.

City attorneys argue the department has largely complied with court-ordered reforms and established safeguards to prevent backsliding. In a May brief to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal, they wrote that "none of the systemic violations of the federal laws alleged in the DOJ's 2012 complaint have been found in more than two years."

The brief concluded that "the City had substantially fulfilled the Consent Decree's objectives, with no evidence suggesting a likelihood of regression. Continued enforcement is inequitable and unconstitutional."

The Department of Justice joined the city in September in calling for an end to the decree—a move that gained momentum after President Donald Trump signed an executive order requiring a review and possible termination of all existing federal consent decrees.

City leaders have increasingly viewed the oversight as overly burdensome and costly, with annual costs estimated at $11 million and total spending projected between $130 million and $150 million over the decree's lifetime.

"The millions of taxpayer dollars sucked up by the Consent Decree after there was no longer an underlying Constitution violation are the very funds NOPD needed to keep the City safe," Attorney General Liz Murrill's office wrote in a brief that supported the city's push to end the decree.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell has argued that federal oversight also hurts police morale and makes it difficult to recruit and retain officers.

The ACLU of Louisiana said it is deeply troubled by the move to end federal oversight. The organization called it "a stark reversal of the city's recent commitment to a two-year sustainment period, agreed upon by both city officials and the courts just months ago."

The ACLU also noted the decision reflects a troubling national trend, as the current administration's Department of Justice "signals its intent to roll back police oversight and dismantle consent decrees nationwide."

Judge Morgan's decision will challenge the department to prove its reforms can endure without the court’s supervision.