Breaking (kind of): Mitch Landrieu's biggest mistake, New Orleans Police Chief Ronal Serpas, has just announced he's stepping down.
Chief Serpas, who left the New Orleans force in 2001 after being reprimanded for deceptive bookkeeping (he cooked books so he could buy tactical equipment for Special Ops command) and other, separate cases, went to Washington state, then bounced to Nashville, where he resigned as chief under complaints of under-reporting of crime, downgrading rape cases to "misc. incidents."
Brought in as chief by Landrieu in 2010 to boost morale among old line officers in the wake of numerous civil rights violation cases, Serpas has inspired little confidence in the people of the city.
Even more surprisingly, Serpas has failed to win the blue hearts of fellow officers. A 2012 survey active police officers in New Orleans found a majority dissatisfied with department procedures and practices. Worse, under Serpas' leadership, complaints of under-reporting of crimes and--wait for it--downgrading of rape to assault complaints--have jumped.
Serpas' "innovative" ideas for reforming both the Nashville and New Orleans departments--statistic-based policing and concentration of resources on perceived gang activity--might well be reasonable approaches, if implemented honestly, but, in both cities where he has been chief, they've proved to be rhetorical walls for cops to hide their mistakes behind. (See the recent story of the cop who shot a suspect in the head and IT WAS NEVER REPORTED).
The New Orleans force has a lot of strengths, a number of glaring weaknesses and a lot of very unlovely history to overcome. Whoever takes the chief's chair has a slew of competing interests to balance.
It is to be hoped that Serpas' replacement brings, at the very least, a commitment to honest reporting to the job.