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Short-staffed New Orleans police sends civilians to noninjury accident calls : NPR


Ethan Cheramie and Daryl Odom, of On Scene Services, a private contractor hired by New Orleans to respond to car wrecks due to a lack of police.

Martin Kaste/NPR


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Ethan Cheramie and Daryl Odom, of On Scene Services, a private contractor hired by New Orleans to respond to car wrecks due to a lack of police.

Martin Kaste/NPR

During the 2020 George Floyd protests, many called for cuts to the traditional police budget. That didn’t happen, for the most part. But almost three years on, some police departments are shrinking anyway.

ONE new criminology research of the 14 major police departments found most have lost “too many” full-time, sworn officers since 2020, a trend that has been verified at core city agencies such as the Police Department. close to New Orleans.

In 2010, NOPD had about 1,500 officers; a decade later, it’s at around 1,200. As of 2020, the division has dropped another 20% to 944. Despite doubling down on recruitment efforts, the division continues to shrink.

“We’re looking at a situation where the department this year lost almost 20 officers,” said Jeff Asher, a public safety consultant. the city’s police officer tracker for the New Orleans City Council. “It really impacts everything. You’re seeing response times go up from about 50 minutes on average for any kind of call in 2019 to over two and a half hours last year. And so far, This year is a little bit worse.”

Even long-time residents of New Orleans say they see the difference.

“I get off the road every day before 4pm,” said Delores Montgomery, a ride-sharing driver. She said that she was particularly shaken by the recent event kill another carpool driveras well as her own experience last year, seeing a couple chasing their stolen car at a gas station in broad daylight.

“It’s just one thing after another and you just sit there gaping,” she said. “The criminals know there aren’t enough officers on the streets! They know this!”

New Orleans, which once ranked among the most dangerous cities in the 1990s and late 2000s, is likely to have regained The worst per-capita murder rate dubious difference between cities with more than 250,000 inhabitants last year.

Officers rank and file say they are less likely to be present in crime hotspots because of a lack of personnel.

“We are dealing with a police department of 1,600 officers run by 900 officers,” said Captain Mike Glasser, A veteran of the New Orleans Police Department, and president of the New Orleans Police Association (PANO).

Glasser blamed declining staff numbers on officer distrust of leadership, as well as incremental financial incentives that could lead officers to early retirement. There was also great pressure from other departments, who recruited NOPDs for quieter jobs in the suburbs. Regardless of the cause, Glasser says it’s time to accept certain realities.

Daryl Odom, a civilian agent for On Scene Services, a private contractor that responds to non-injury car crashes to free New Orleans police for other duties.

Martin Kaste/NPR


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Daryl Odom, a civilian agent for On Scene Services, a private contractor that responds to non-injury car crashes to free New Orleans police for other duties.

Martin Kaste/NPR

The New Orleans Police Department is trying to do less risky missions

“We never actually retooled the part,” Glasser said. “There are a few things that we should probably abbreviate – or temporarily remove – to fundamentally categorize the crime problem.”

One thing the NOPD is trying to do: Less risky police missions, such as going to the scene of car wrecks that don’t cause injury.

“People are still calling 911, their call is still going. But it’s going to our agents,” said Ethan Cheramie, founder of a company called On Scene Services (OSS). It employs unarmed former police officers who go to wreck sites to get information and provide reports.

“Our agents respond in a timely, effective way so people get on with their jobs,” says Cheramie. OSS has had two crash-response vehicles in New Orleans in the past five years, and with staff shortages worsening, the city just signed an extended contract for seven OSS vehicles — enough, according to the report. Cheramie’s figures, to free up the equivalent of 15 full-time cars. officer for other duties.

“You will continue to see the alternative police response shift from gunmen to civilians in response to these calls for nonviolent service,” says Cheramie.

And yet, the city’s tracking process is slow. Last year, the NOPD pledged to recruit civilians for 50 new positions doing traditional police jobs such as fingerprinting and property crime investigations. There have been too many qualified applicants, but so far the department has announced only three employees.

In an email to NPR, the NOPD cited “many steps” involved in recruiting civilians, but reaffirmed “how important it is to hire both authorized and professional personnel.”

The department will not provide anyone for an interview, citing a lack of staff.

Another factor that could complicate the process is political instability. The department has undergone command reshuffles in recent months and New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell could face a recall election.

Some opposition to civilisation may also come from the police themselves. President of PANO Mike Glasser says the best solution to the officer shortage is consolidation—putting investigations under one roof—not just hiring more civilians.

The problem with civilian hires, he said, is that they can only do the work they were hired to do. If the department suddenly needed more personnel for crowd control during the Mardi Gras Festival, they couldn’t help.

“Should we civilize some things? Maybe so, we should. Other things, I have to be cautious, it’s not a long-term, long-term philosophy,” Glasser said. speak.

Across the country, an increasing number of police officers are expressing interest in the civilization of some of their work. The federation for Los Angeles police officers, the Los Angeles Police Protection League, recently suggested that civilians should respond to 911 calls more nonviolently, such as welfare checks and emergency services. noisy party.

But, like New Orleans, cities that have committed to moving in that direction are having a hard time doing so — Baltimore police, for example. Last year faculty said it would hire civilian investigators; A year later, their training has yet to begin.

Story has been edited by Maquita Peters.

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