Give Cannizzaro what he needs: The new DA, Leon Cannizzaro, hit the ground running yesterday (11.17.08) in his first day on the job, promising his staff they're going to work harder and longer than ever before. And take drug tests.
One of Cannizzaro's first problems is going to be how to retain the 29 positions (clerks and investigators) funded by the feds when the grant expires at the end of the year. He says the city ought to be able to find the $1.5 million needed out of a city budget of $500 million.
It's really up to us as citizens. We all talk about how the No. 1 problem in the city is crime. It's time to put our money where our mouth is. How about a dedicated millage for, say, 2 years that will give Cannizzaro all the tools he says he needs to reduce crime in Orleans Parish? We can't keep saying we want to cut crime and not do what it takes. Right now, that's money.
But Mayor Nagin seems to be more interested in asking for a tax increase so he can keep his friends on the payroll and placate his wife with taxpayer-paid lunches at fancy eateries. He's squandered too much of the taxpayers' tax money over the years on his luxuries and his incompetent staff's bungling to indulge him further.
It's really up to us as citizens. We all talk about how the No. 1 problem in the city is crime. It's time to put our money where our mouth is. How about a dedicated millage for, say, 2 years that will give Cannizzaro all the tools he says he needs to reduce crime in Orleans Parish? We can't keep saying we want to cut crime and not do what it takes. Right now, that's money.
Chief change coming?: With a new DA in place, the focus turns to Police Chief Warren Riley--the remaining weak link in the criminal justice system.
Rumors still swirl that he'll be gone soon--the question is when. Riley will have 3 years in his position come Nov. 28 this year--enough time to retire at full pay ($172,000 a year). Speculation is he will announce his retirement soon after that, effective Jan. 1. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
The NEW chief? Since Mayor Nagin puts little effort in picking police
chiefs (Eddie Compass was a boyhood pal; Riley was next in line when Compass melted down during Katrina), the best guess is Assistant Chief Marlon Defillo, currently the No. 2 man in the department, will get Nagin's nod.
Best choice from INSIDE the department? Capt. Jeff Winn. A highly-decorated 23
-year veteran of the NOPD and a hero of Katrina who supplied leadership when there was none. His drawback is he's young, but he's experienced (former SWAT team commander, former 1st District commander, currently commander of the criminal intelligence division) and no commanders on the NOPD merit more respect from the rank and file.
Best choice from OUTSIDE the department? Ronal Serpas. Serpas was plucked from the ranks and made the first chief of operations when the
NOPD was drastically reorganized under Chief Richard Pennington in the mid-90s. When he took over as boss of the district commanders, crime dropped drastically in the city. A 27-year veteran of law enforcement with a doctorate from the University of New Orleans, he went on to become chief of the Washington State Police in 2001 and then Police Chief of Nashville, TN, in 2004, which has a police force similar in size to New Orleans' for a city/county much larger. In both jobs, he managed to reduce crime significantly.
The NEW chief? Since Mayor Nagin puts little effort in picking police
chiefs (Eddie Compass was a boyhood pal; Riley was next in line when Compass melted down during Katrina), the best guess is Assistant Chief Marlon Defillo, currently the No. 2 man in the department, will get Nagin's nod.As a 27-year veteran of the NOPD, Defillo's not a bad choice. I worked with him on the mayor's public safety transition team; he's intelligent and articulate, listens to others and is persuasive in stating his position. But the rap on him is that he lacks street-level command experience over a division, other than leading the Public Integrity Bureau and the Public Information Office.
Best choice from INSIDE the department? Capt. Jeff Winn. A highly-decorated 23
-year veteran of the NOPD and a hero of Katrina who supplied leadership when there was none. His drawback is he's young, but he's experienced (former SWAT team commander, former 1st District commander, currently commander of the criminal intelligence division) and no commanders on the NOPD merit more respect from the rank and file.Best choice from OUTSIDE the department? Ronal Serpas. Serpas was plucked from the ranks and made the first chief of operations when the
NOPD was drastically reorganized under Chief Richard Pennington in the mid-90s. When he took over as boss of the district commanders, crime dropped drastically in the city. A 27-year veteran of law enforcement with a doctorate from the University of New Orleans, he went on to become chief of the Washington State Police in 2001 and then Police Chief of Nashville, TN, in 2004, which has a police force similar in size to New Orleans' for a city/county much larger. In both jobs, he managed to reduce crime significantly.(I swear, Maj. Edwin Hosli, commander of the 8th District, did not put me up to this. He and Serpas are the closest of friends; they were best man at each other's wedding back when both were on the NOPD. Serpas could come back home--have you ever seen a Louisiana boy who wouldn't like to return home--and make more money than up north to boot.)
When we mentioned several possible replacements for Riley above, more than one NOcrimeline reader asked "What about Louis Dabdoub?"
Indeed, how could I forget. When I first met Capt. Dabdoub after he wa
s named commander of the 8th District in 2002, I remember coming home and saying that I had just met the guy who was going to be the city's police chief someday.
He was a gritty street cop who amazed those under him when he would jump in and make a collar when necessary. I once remember him being late to a Lower Quarter Crime Watch meeting--he had stopped to arrest a miscreant near Jackson Square he encountered on the way.
Because he always made time to listen to any citizen's complaint, Capt. Dabdoub was largely loved by the residents of the French Quarter, if not universally by gutter punks and unscrupulous merchants. It was during a sweep of businesses in the Quarter who lacked proper licensing that he ran afoul of the powers that be; it was said some of those busted had close ties to Mayor Nagin.
Dabdoub was banished unceremoniously from the 8th District to the 4th District (Algiers), an obvious demotion. Not long after he resigned from the NOPD and was last heard working for the Federal Protective Service, charged with protecting federal buildings and personnel, as part of Homeland Security.
Missing loot: You may have been reading about the $19,000 that Riley now admits is missing from the NOPD's flimsy post-Katrina property room in a trailer on Jeff Davis Parkway.
s named commander of the 8th District in 2002, I remember coming home and saying that I had just met the guy who was going to be the city's police chief someday.He was a gritty street cop who amazed those under him when he would jump in and make a collar when necessary. I once remember him being late to a Lower Quarter Crime Watch meeting--he had stopped to arrest a miscreant near Jackson Square he encountered on the way.
Because he always made time to listen to any citizen's complaint, Capt. Dabdoub was largely loved by the residents of the French Quarter, if not universally by gutter punks and unscrupulous merchants. It was during a sweep of businesses in the Quarter who lacked proper licensing that he ran afoul of the powers that be; it was said some of those busted had close ties to Mayor Nagin.
Dabdoub was banished unceremoniously from the 8th District to the 4th District (Algiers), an obvious demotion. Not long after he resigned from the NOPD and was last heard working for the Federal Protective Service, charged with protecting federal buildings and personnel, as part of Homeland Security.
If Dabdoub could be induced to come back to the NOPD as chief, he could be just the one to give the department the ass-kicking it needs.
A former commander in charge of the property room said it held $3 million at one time. We've heard from other sources that when police headquarters flooded after Katrina, $7 million was beneath the water.
You want to bet that more than a paltry $19,000 has disappeared in the last 3 years?
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Thom Kahler
Posts
4 comments:
I like Marlon alot but he lost his credibility with the public while he was the Public Information Office. I would second the Ronal Serpas pick. Right now this department needs someone from the outside in the worst way.
I second Ronnie Serpas too. He knows the NOPD and now has seen how other people in other parts of the country operate, so he hopefully has learned a few more things. It would be great to have him back home again.
Serpas is without a doubt the man for the job, lets just hope his race won't be the clincher!!
Winn has not performed well in command positions. While he is a good cop, he is not a good manager of cops. You need a Superintendent who can manage, lead and reform the department. Don't think Winn can do that since he has failed to do it with a district command.
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