Attorney General Announces NOPD Reforms

Attorney General Eric Holder traveled to New Orleans to announce sweeping reforms to be implemented in the city’s troubled police department. The changes are outlined in a detailed consent decree.

Holder says enforcement of new police procedures and policies will be monitored by federal authorities for at least four years.

“It will also resolve the government’s allegations that the New Orleans police engaged in a pattern of practice of conduct that was both discriminatory and unconstitutional, and that too often undermined the public’s trust and the city’s efforts to effectively prevent crime.”

Several officers were convicted of shooting unarmed civilians in the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. But Holder says problems in the New Orleans police department date back well before the storm. The decree must now be approved by a federal judge.