[StBernard] The future for the St. Bernard Sheriff's Office?

[Westley Annis]

NAACP Calling on Obama to Investigate NOPD

(Jennifer Hale, FOX 8 News)

The NAACP and ACLU are calling on President Obama to investigate the New
Orleans Police Department. The organizations say officers have been
illegally making traffic stops in order to meet a quota. 

Just a day after Fox 8 first reported on an email sent by an NOPD Sergeant
to his officers, regarding the Mid-City Security District, the NAACP and
ACLU have fired off a letter to President Obama requesting an investigation.

On June 28th, Sgt. Sam Palumbo, who runs the paid detail in Mid-City, sent
the email to the officers whom he supervises. It read in part, "I had a
total of 17 vehicle stops, 7 citations and 31 pedestrian stops. This is
unacceptable. There are more than 17 vehicles that cross any intersection in
Mid City at any one time during a 24 hour period." The NAACP says the
message in the email is clear, officers must make a large number of traffic
stops in order to get paid. "The email does not discuss the legal
requirement that before an officer can stop someone, the officer must have
at least a reasonable suspicion that a crime has occurred, is occurring or
is about to occur," President of the NAACP, New Orleans branch, Danatus King
said.

But the organizations admit, they're not sure if the people being pulled
over are African Americans. "The Justice Department has already pointed out
that there's a long history of racial profiling in stops and arrests within
the New Orleans Police Department, so it's reasonable to assume that what
would happen, or what was supposed to happen pursuant to this email, would
follow the age old pattern, which is one of racial profiling," local ACLU
President Marjorie Esman explained.

In order to tell whose being stopped and why, the NAACP has requested copies
of the field interview cards that officers typically fill out after traffic
stops. The cards include information such as a person's name, race and a
brief description of what they look like. 

The NOPD says Sgt. Palumbo did nothing wrong by asking his officers to work
a little harder. In fact, in the email, Palumbo noted that some officers
only put ten miles on their vehicles during a four hour shift. "What Sgt.
Palumbo did, from what I'm understanding right now, he virtually told the
people that are making a very good overtime salary to do this, either you
work or you don't do the detail anymore," NOPD Captain Henry Dean explained.

Dean says the department does not have quotas and asking officers to step up
patrols, is not breaking the law.

The NAACP says if an investigation reveals racial profiling has in fact
occurred, then they'd like to see the officers responsible, fired from the
force.