Police reports, good and bad

A world of difference: Since there's no centralized reporting to citizens on crime in the community, it's pretty much left up to each NOPD police district to tell residents in its jurisdiction what's going on. In some districts, the effort is virtually non-existent. In others, it's horribly anemic. In one--not the 8th--it's nearly a model of how police should communicate with the citizens they serve.

The 8th District practically pioneered the effort when Maj. Edwin Hosli, commander of the district that encompasses the French Quarter, agreed in March, 2007 to give all the district's crime reports to NOcrimeline to publish by email and eventually online. When Big Chief Warren Riley went on the warpath this past spring about commentary by NOcrimeline in its reporting, he ordered the 8th District to stifle what had been splendid cooperation with NOcrimeline.

Maj. Hosli, to his credit, said he would establish his own email list and send out reports of crimes in the 8th District directly to the citizenry. Initially, the flow of information was steady and thorough. Now his "8th District Updates" have dwindled to a trickle, often only including what happened over the weekends, and with scant detail.

At about the same time NOcrimeline was gearing up, then-Capt. Kirk Bouleyas, Hosli's successor as commander of the 2nd District, launched his own email blast to alert citizens Uptown about crime there.

Bouleyas moved on to become Chief of Operations, and now Maj. Bruce Little--once the sparkplug of the 8th District's taskforce when he was a sergeant--has taken his district's email blast to a higher level. He actually talks to his constituents and tells them in detail, without jargon, what's going on.

In the NOPD district neighboring the 8th on the east--the 5th--we reported the commander there--Maj. Bernedine Kelly, a veteran of the 8th District--didn't publish police reports. But we learned belatedly that the 5th District does publish a "Community Bulletin" on Wednesdays listing the crimes in the past week.

The reports are stripped of much vital information, such as the ages of the victims, the time the crime happened, and the names of perpetrators arrested. Not much for the the citizens of Faubourg Mariny and Bywater to go on.

Why the fuss? The thinking, at least among the citizenry, is that if you know what crime is happening, where and when, you can take precautions against becoming a victim.

Unfortunately, this is not a view shared by the top echelon of the NOPD. Often the top brass views the reporting of the crime as an admission to its inadequacy in controlling it. The thinking at HQ seems to be: If we can't control crime, at least we can control the reporting of it, to make it seem like there's a lot less than there actually is.

It would be more valuable to citizens if Chief Riley was more concerned about preventing crime than making excuses for it.

Now, for the reports--more or less: 3 white women, ages 23, 24, and 25, were walking to their car when they were confronted by an armed black man in the 800 block of Magazine Street shortly after 11 p.m. last Thursday (10.23.08). He ordered them to pull all their belongings on the ground; he picked and chose what he wanted before fleeing on foot toward Julia Street.

The women flagged down a passing patrol car and gave police this description of the robber: 5'9" tall, weighing 150 pounds, wearing a white pull-over jacket and blue jeans.

Robbery so simple a caveman could do it: As a white woman was handing over her money last Friday (10.24.08) at about 12:40 a.m. to a clerk at the Gateway Mardi Gras Daiquiri shop, 619 Bourbon St., a black dude came up and snatched the cash and fled on foot up Bourbon Street.

8th District detectives determined it was the work of Jefferson Kontur, 34, 5'9" tall, weighing 170 pounds, wearing a gray T-shirt and blue jeans, and issued an arrest warrant for simple robbery.

In another case, on Saturday morning (10.25.08) at about 5:30 a.m., a Hispanic man and several of his buddies were walking in the 700 block of Iberville Street (between Bourbon and Royal streets) when a black guy ran up and snatched his wallet from his right rear pants pocket.

But the robber, apparently not appreciating the overwhelming power of the victim and his posse, was grabbed and held for police. Arrested was Joseph Blouin, 20, 6'8", 186 pounds, and charged with simple robbery.

Too much skin: Early Saturday morning (10.25.08) around 3:30 a.m., a white guy who must not have been from around here, got into an argument with a transvestite at Dauphine and St. Louis streets. One thing led to another and, according to the police, the she/man removed one of the high-heel boots he was wearing and struck the victim in the face.

Police arrived on the scene and charged Walter Black, 39, with aggravated battery, as well as obscenity under a state statute that covers such things as "flashing". Maybe a little too much flesh shown while wresting that unwieldy boot from his foot?

Now you see him: You might recall that we complained last week about the NOPD not releasing mugshots of suspects they're supposed to be hunting. To the rescue came Eleanor Lahey, who showed me how to extract older mugshots from the sheriff's files.

(Never underestimate the journalistic chops of someone who's worked under the influence of Larry Flynt. Eleanor's the manager of Hustler Hollywood on Bourbon Street. You might remember the piece she wrote for NOcrimeline in early August about crime on her end of the Quarter.)

Thanks to Eleanor, we now have a mugshot of Mark Melerine for whom the 8th District has 2 outstanding arrest warrants charging him with 2 pursesnatchings back in April.

The first occurred in the 100 block of N. Peters Street and the second in the 1300 block of Bourbon Street. Melerine is described as a white male, 34 years old, 5'11" tall, weighing 180 pounds.

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As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome at NOcrimeline@gmail.com.

Thom Kahler