New Orleans Police consent decree

After more than a decade under federal oversight, the New Orleans Police Department will finally have a chance to prove that it can police itself, a judge ruled Tuesday.

For Ford, the declining clearance rate, along with other numbers she has crunched, are indicators that the department’s sex crimes unit remains severely understaffed and underresourced.

A proposal to wind down the New Orleans Police Department’s longstanding federal consent decree is drawing pushback from critics who say the department needs ongoing oversight.

Despite stubbornly high crime rates, the New Orleans Police Department is getting high marks from residents. The New Orleans Crime Coalition survey shows…