New Orleans Police Department Essay

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Introduction The New Orleans Police Department is an organization that struggled long before Hurricane Katrina made landfall in August of 2005. Many residents feared the department and some would say that “the department was infected by a culture of discrimination, abuse, and lawlessness” (Ramsey, 2015). Beginning in the 1980’s, police brutality became a major issue in the city, which still continues now, almost 12 years later. During the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it seemed that the situation was only worse. Residents of New Orleans were experiencing even higher levels of police brutality and with not much control over the city, there appeared to be no form of relief coming any time soon. However, in May of 2010, the Department of Justice …show more content…

Pam Metzger, a criminal law professor said “New Orleans was a city where the general population had a fair degree of skepticism coupled with outright fear of the police department. It was quite justified. That made this a place where one’s view of the police depended largely on one’s race and socioeconomic background” (Ramsey, 2015). Many accounts of the violence were targeted towards the black community and became nationally known. Another issue that surfaced with the police department was the criminal behavior that surfaced including unjustified shootings, involvement in the drug epidemic, and various other criminal activities. A civil rights lawyer, Mary Howell, included her input by saying, “We had police officers involved in kidnappings, rape, murders, drugs, bank robberies. There was a guy who used to do, like, bank robberies on his lunch hour. It was just astonishing- at one point we had four police officers facing first-degree murder charges” (Kahn, 2010). Following the spur of bad behavior from the officers, a new mayor and police chief were instated into the system, hoping to bring reform to the city. After holding office for some time, numerous officers were fired, the murder rate dropped, and relations improved. However, the efforts did not last long and by 2005, the police department was back to its corrupt ways (Kahn,

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