Mayor Mitch Landrieu addresses the partnership to reform NOPD as (left to right) U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Roy Austin, NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas, Lieut. Col. Jerry Sheed and the vice president of the City Council, Jackie Clarkson, looks on at the press conference held at City Hall on May 17, 2010. (April Buffington/NYT Institute)

The Department of Justice announced an investigation that is intended to lead to an overhaul of the New Orleans Police Department, which has been plagued by allegations of corruption, brutality and murder.

The investigation was prompted by Mayor Mitch Landrieu, inaugurated less than two weeks ago, who said the department had become known as one of the worst in the country. Landrieu said he expected the review to result in a consent decree that would commit any reforms to law.

The problems run so deep, the mayor said, that they have created a “culture of death on the streets of New Orleans.” And he said he called for federal help because local authorities would not be able to root out the problems on their own.

“The level of crime and violence in this city is, in fact, unnatural and unacceptable,” Landrieu said at a news conference Monday, “and my top priority is to make the streets of New Orleans safe.”

Even before Monday’s announcement, eight federal investigations were already under way concerning serious allegations of abuses by New Orleans police. The worst of them occurred in the days immediately following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, including the shooting of six civilians at Danziger Bridge that that left two people dead. Four former city police officers have pleaded guilty to charges arising from the shooting and have admitted covering up the circumstances of the shootings.

Eloise Williams speaks about community concerns at the New Orleans town hall meeting at the Superdome. The meetings panel included newly elected Mayor Mitch Landrieu and the superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department, Ronal Serpas. (Taylar Barrington/NYT Institute)

The federal government has conducted similar overhauls in local police departments in a handful of jurisdictions, including Los Angeles, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. Rarely are these efforts initiated at the request of local authorities, which, in New Orleans’ case, underscores the depths of this community’s distrust and discontentment.

Earlier this month, in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., Mayor Landrieu said, “nothing short of a complete transformation is necessary,” adding, “our citizens are desperate for positive change.”

Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, agreed with the mayor’s dire assessment of the department. He said federal officials would investigate patterns of abuses by police officers, rather than individual instances, in order to identify reforms that would address systemic problems. The goal, he said, would be to reduce crime, protect the rule of law and restore public confidence in the police department.

At the news conference, authorities characterized this effort as amicable. When asked how officers would feel about the federal government looking over their shoulders, Police Chief Ronal Serpas, also new to his post, said honest, hard-working officers would welcome the investigation.

“The people who want to be a positive influence in their community,” Chief Serpas said, “they welcome this kind of stuff because they don’t want people to think of them as unprofessional.”

Hours after the mayor announced the federal review, he and Chief Serpas met with about four dozen community and religious leaders at the Superdome. Many of the residents expressed relief that the federal government was going to look into the police department’s activities.

But they worried they might not feel the effects of the review for months, if not years.

Eloise Williams, a 70-year-old New Orleans resident, was one of the most outspoken skeptics. She said at least three relatives had been killed in encounters with police since 1993. And she named each of the officers involved.

Williams, who held up photos of her lost loved ones, said Hurricane Katrina had a kind of Pandora’s Box effect on the police department, wreaking havoc onto an already fragile police department. And she suggested that the abuses that had already been made public have given just a small glimpse of an enormous problem.

“A whole lot of things are coming out on the police department,” she said.

At the town hall meeting Monday night, Serpas announced he would invite the public to look over the department’s shoulder as well by opening the department for tours. He also said officers would receive training on racial profiling.

The Justice Department has not established a timeline for the investigation. Perez said it would involve meetings with people inside and outside of the department. And he encouraged the public to send any criticism and ideas for reforms to community.nopd@usdoj.gov.

“We will accept nothing less than a police department that respects the constitutional right of every American,” Landrieu said. “I believe this is a great first step.”

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