New Orleans P.D. faces another brutality complaint...investigation under way

**Terminator** · 04-09-06, 08:32 AM

New information was released Thursday afternoon about the alleged police beating.

Chief Warren Riley said his public integrity investigators were getting different stories from witnesses they've interviewed.

The chief said the FBI is now also investigating why a routine traffic stop Tuesday resulted in Jonie Pratt receiving a black eye and fractured wrist.

Third district officers Jason Giroir, Ryan Vaught, and Joseph Haines are all accused of beating Pratt in front of her home, an incident Pratt's mother-in-law said she witnessed.

Family members were shocked considering Jonie Pratt has ties to the New Orleans Police Department. Her husband is a NOPD officer.

Riley said his public integrity officers have interviewed about dozen witnesses.

“It was two white officers in her initial statement,” said Riley.

Riley would not disclose details of the statement, but he said the truth will come out in the near future.

Riley said his Public Integrity Bureau is constantly performing undercover integrity checks on officers.

About 100 checks have been conducted since the storm, but there have been no serious infractions.

Also the office hours for the Public Integrity Bureau have been extended from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Anyone with information is asked to call (504) 658-6800 if they have any complaints about NOPD officers.

**Garda** · 04-09-06, 11:53 AM

If her husband is an officer how come he isnt involved?

**Retdetsgt** · 04-09-06, 12:04 PM

Originally Posted by Garda

If her husband is an officer how come he isnt involved?

In what? If he wasn't present, he's not a factor, at least in the investigation. I don't think I'd want to be one of the officers that assaulted her though.....

Who knows what really happened? That dept has a lot of problems. I watched the video, (as most here probably have) of the them beating up the old man and the dumbass attacking the news producer. I suspect they've been getting away with a lot for a long time, but the storm has brought out quite a bit about them. Looting, leaving posts, the beating of the old guy, etc. makes me think probably anything is plausible there.

I don't like UC stuff against cops, but only because the UC's tend to get over enthusiastic. Good competent investigations of real complaints should be enough although they may need to get outside LE people to do them for a while. If a dept is that bad, the people they get in IA may not be any better.

**BEK** · 04-09-06, 02:53 PM

I thought that NOPD was already investigated and a buch of cops were arrested by the FBI. Dont they learn. I have nothing againts cops doing there job, and I can understand that cops can screw up once in a while but down there it seems like shit is always going on.

**TXCharlie** · 04-09-06, 10:44 PM

If I was a cop, I'm seriously thinking I'd always wear a hidden Digital Voice Recorder, and just leave it running the whole shift and religiously archive the encrypted files every night in case I need them to prove my innocence.

These days you're assumed guilty, and you may have to show that you did nothing wrong months after an incident happened.

Some people have said in some states it would be illegal to do that, and the files may not even be protected under the 5th admendment if you don't want them released, I don't know about all that - But it seems sometimes that the DVR may be your only reliable witness.

**Retdetsgt** · 04-10-06, 01:08 AM

Cops rarely get totally framed. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but they are generally hung for what they actually did. Now what they did may be okay in our eyes, but when people tried to do a cop, they almost always get caught.

**StanSwitek** · 04-10-06, 03:10 AM

Originally Posted by Garda

If her husband is an officer how come he isnt involved?

He is a former officer. He has no business being involved except as a witness if he saw something. Family members of cops can be some of the most difficult people to deal with.

**cntryboy0531** · 04-10-06, 03:42 AM

I'm not for "integrity checks".

**Dudleydoright** · 04-10-06, 10:45 AM

I'd like to know the whole story first. You're right Stan cops and their families know how to pull a cops chain faster than anyone else. An example would be the officer (or former officer) that went through a plate glass window in Ca. a few years ago. Set up?????

Indy · 04-10-06, 12:07 PM

What exactly is an undercover integrity check? They set the officer up in a situation to see if he responds appropriately?

**26Trainer** · 04-10-06, 02:05 PM

The New Orleans Police did/do have their share of problems before and after the hurricane. Mostly it is morale, a lot of what was promised to the new hires the city did not follow through with their promise. Also their resouces are low and they are recruiting from outside of the city limits again. For a while it was closed to all but city residents. Granted the city started opening up to the outside world just a couple of years ago but the sting in that decision is still there among the rank and file. Promotions and take home units were mostly for personnel that lived in the city, except of a chosen few. The administration micromanages way too much and ties the hands of the district sergeants, lieutenants, and captains in their day to day operations.

The NOPD was not ready for this hurricane and I do not believe it will be ready for the next one either. The city abandoned its officers for the storm...period. No plan was put into place to ensure that communications, food, clothing, water, and some comforts of life were provided to the officers in the field. This fell on the chief of police to ensure the above mentioned was in place when the hurricane hit the new orleans area. In the past all the above mentioned was in place and ready for issue when officers from the field came into the headquarters for provisions. Most officers left town to ensure the safety of their families, which I can not blame them for doing. It will take a lot of stress of their minds knowing their loved ones are safe and all they have to worry about is themselves and their partners life. It is bad enough to loose your home, but with your family in it when it gets flooded. The city would have to wait until I got my family to safety. Granted oaths were taken to protect the city, but what can one do until the hurricane did what it was going to do and then come out and do the job of police work that one is getting paid to do.

Now as far as beating someone....this should not have happened period. No excuse. But down here a lot of folks that are politically connected or have had someone on the department think they are immune to any type of law enforcement rules and regulations.

Yes the NOPD does set up their officers, I know I was there once. The PID and IA folks will put money in the back seat of your unit, I mean stuff it down under the back seat to see if you check your vehicle for any contraband that was left by an arrestee. You will literally have to take the back seat out to find what was put in there. Sometimes they will put jewelry or other items of value to see if you keep it or turn it in. Sometimes the IA and PID will stage a disturbance to see what action the officer will take.

As most of us know the worst disturbances to handle is one with an ex/active police officer involvement. Granted some officers will allow you to do your job and others will try and intimidate you expecially if they have more time on the bricks than you do.

So yes NOPD does have its problems and when the Nagin administration gets out of office it may come around and then again it depends on who is in office to allow the police chief to do his job. As you see the chief of police here is appointed by the mayor of the city. Another words he/she is the puppet of the mayor.

**TXCharlie** · 04-10-06, 02:29 PM

Originally Posted by 26Trainer

The NOPD was not ready for this hurricane and I do not believe it will be ready for the next one either.

I find it laughable for any city in this country to claim that it's prepared for a disaster of one-tenth that scale - It seems to me that most cities have problems keeping it together on a normal day, because they're staffed only to meet average conditions and rely on Mutual Aid to take up the slack.

But when an area-wide disaster strikes, there is no mutual aid, at least for a while. I'm not too sure that brutal reality has sunk in yet - I fear that after the shock wears off (and it really has already), cities will get back into the mode of betting that the next Katrina-scale disaster or 9/11-style (or worse) terrorist event is 100 years away, and it will happen "somewhere else".

In hindsight, human nature will say that Katrina wasn't really that bad for the 99% of us who didn't experience a personal loss, so why prepare? I am being sarcastic, of course.

**26Trainer** · 04-10-06, 05:09 PM

You are correct Charlie nobody could be ready for that, but on the up side of this topic the city could have had resources in the waiting and it would have helped some. The city was through a hurricane in 1965 when Hurricane Betsy struck the area and flooded the St. Bernard area as the levee was also breeched for Betsy. The city was flooded then as the house I lived in was raised off the ground and if not for that the house would have flooded. Boats were passing in the street in front of the house and the boat was drawing about 3-4 foot draft.

The NOPD had a better response due to a good Police Superintendant stocking up supplies for his men and women on the street. They did not loose radio communications then.....why now???

I'm not mad with you Charlie for being sarcastic as you speak the truth

**TXCharlie** · 04-10-06, 07:35 PM

Well, the next hurricane season is approaching fast... Maybe FEMA and the cities have at least staged a few rations, water, and satellite phones in reasonably secure locations, but I wouldn't bet my life on it.

**StanSwitek** · 04-11-06, 01:10 AM

Originally Posted by Dudleydoright

I'd like to know the whole story first. You're right Stan cops and their families know how to pull a cops chain faster than anyone else. An example would be the officer (or former officer) that went through a plate glass window in Ca. a few years ago. Set up?????

I know the incident re the window job very well. It was about 15 years ago now. The guy, Don Jackson, now goes by Diop Kemu or something like that. He runs www.policeabuse.com which has been discussed here. The real reason the glass broke is that the business had been windowsmasjhed the day before. The owner replaced the window with glass that was paper thin & not up to code.

As a general rule, I do not favor random integrity tests. If a department has information a specific officer may be dirty & they want to run a test as part of their invest, I'm ok with that. I'm not talking about testing for minor violations of department policy. I'm speaking more along the lines of officers suspected of engaging in criminal acts.

**Garda** · 04-11-06, 04:05 PM

Originally Posted by Stan Switek

He is a former officer.

In the story it says he is a serving officer not former or retired. What I meant by my earlier comments, if your wife was assaulted by a colleague would you sit at home watching TV or would calls be made and questions asked? If it was me I would be furious and making sure they were punished.

Im in full agreement with Stans comments concerning IA. I believe it was the London METS CIB that first started integrity testing in these parts. I heard one story where an officer walked into a station, IDed himself and said he was transfering into the area and asked for advise, etc about housing, etc. If the officer on duty made any dodgy comments he found himself in trouble. I read that in the book 'Bent coppers' but dont know if its 100% accurate.

As for the US, is there any calls for an ombudsman coming in or is there some already?

**Retdetsgt** · 04-11-06, 04:24 PM

Originally Posted by BEK320

I thought that NOPD was already investigated and a buch of cops were arrested by the FBI. Dont they learn. I have nothing againts cops doing there job, and I can understand that cops can screw up once in a while but down there it seems like shit is always going on.

NOPD has a long and sordid history.... I've been hearing stories about them through the grapevine as far back as I can remember. That's what happens when you pay that low for being a cop in a city that size with all that vice in it.

In the beating video, the impunity the cops and the attack on the producer showed the lack of restraint and sense of reality they had. Having media that wasn't sympathetic or under their thumb in town wasn't something they were used to dealing with. I can't imagine a cop in many depts today who would think they could possibly get away with bullying a media person in front of a camera and get away with it.

And the dept defending those cops who were looting Wal-Mart was another sick episode. Since when does any police dept anywhere have the right to tell their officers they can steal personal items from a private company? Unless there was a previous arrangement to pay for the items taken or at least an accounting for future reimbursement, it's nothing but theft.

**Iron Man** · 04-11-06, 07:47 PM

My department has had people walk up to officers and say they found a $100 bill on a park bench and hand the money over to the officer. The proper thing to do is take the parson's info down and write a report.

What they were looking for was an officer to pocket the money. Either just to have the $100 or to avoid the report. The former being worse.

**Retdetsgt** · 04-11-06, 08:34 PM

Mine has set up officers, but only where there was already suspected of corruption.

One I recalled was dispatched to a "burglary" where a little old lady supposedly lived. Money was planted between some sofa cushions with a little showing. He was searched on his way back to his car and the money was found.

Another had dope planted under the back seat of his car. A Sgt watched when he came back from patrol and checked to see if it was gone. He didn't turn in a report so they stopped and searched him as he left the precinct on the way to his car. They found the dope in his pocket.

Both had several unsubstantiated complaints regarding the same previously.

I've never known of random checks though.

**Iron Man** · 04-11-06, 08:37 PM

Originally Posted by Retdetsgt

Mine has set up officers, but only where there was already suspected of corruption.

One I recalled was dispatched to a "burglary" where a little old lady supposedly lived. Money was planted between some sofa cushions with a little showing. He was searched on his way back to his car and the money was found.

Another had dope planted under the back seat of his car. A Sgt watched when he came back from patrol and checked to see if it was gone. He didn't turn in a report so they stopped and searched him as he left the precinct on the way to his car. They found the dope in his pocket.

Both had several unsubstantiated complaints regarding the same previously.

I've never known of random checks though.

We have had a few but it has been YEARS.