A new day dawns

Welcome to the inner sanctum: In a move ordained by new NOPD Superintendant Ronal Serpas, the weekly Comsat meeting of each NOPD district now welcomes citizens to see what the police are doing to catch the crooks.

Maj. Edwin Hosli, commander of the 8th District (French Quarter, CBD, Marigny Triangle) sent out an open invitation to citizens to attend the meetings, which will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday (5.18.10) at the Omni Royal Orleans, 621 St. Louis St., to accommodate the additional crowd.

Unlike the monthly NONPAC meetings (held the 2nd Thursday of each month at Maison Dupuy Hotel, 1001 Toulouse St., at 6 p.m.) where citizens can quiz district officers on what's happening in their neighborhoods, at the Comstat (which stands for "computer statistics") meetings, citizens will only be able to observe the proceedings and not comment. Officers will review the crimes in the district in the past week and decide what strategies should be employed and where manpower should be deployed.

All mapped out: Beginning today, the 8th District is making its daily crime map available to the public at its e-mail blast website in the "files" section.

The map will be released Monday through Friday updated with the crimes occurring in the past 24 hours, showing the location, time, and nature of the crime in a box linked to an icon on the map. Starting at 12 a.m. Sunday new crimes will be added daily through 12 p.m. Saturday each week.

Maj. Hosli cautions the icons are added based on raw data. "For example," he said, "so far this year we are reporting 180 auto thefts. Detectives have been able determine through investigation that 59 vehicles were not stolen from the 8th District; the vehicles were towed, misplaced, or redirected to the correct district of occurrence. Although a report was written and an icon was placed on the map, the crime actual did not happen."

Draining Bourbon Street: 8th District cops apprehended a suspect early this morning (5.17.10) after he allegedly swiped money from the hand of a patron of the Bourbon Pub, 801 Bourbon St. (corner of St. Ann Street), around 6 a.m.

Eric Sellers, 45, was booked at Central Lockup for simple robbery at 9:30 a.m. today (5.17.10). He is being held on $15,000 bond.

It's not known if he's suspected in a rash of other robberies on Bourbon over the weekend and in the past week:

• Sunday (5.16.10) 10:58 p.m.: A white woman walking in the 600 block of Bourbon Street (between St. Peter and Toulouse streets) had her cellphone snatched from her hand by a black guy who fled on foot on Toulouse toward N. Rampart Street.

He was described as 5'8" tall, weighing 150 pounds, with shoulder-length dreads, wearing a white T-shirt and brown shorts.

• Friday (5.14.10) 9:35 p.m.: A white guy walking in the 1100 block of Bourbon Street (between Ursulines and Gov. Nicholls streets) had his wallet lifted from his pocket by a black punk who fled on foot down Bourbon toward Esplanade Avenue.

He was described at 5'9" tall, weighing 160 pounds, with a slim build and short hair.

A week ago on Sunday (5.9.10) around 3:05 a.m., 2 white couples walking in the 1200 block of Bourbon Street (between Gov. Nicholls and Barracks streets) were robbed by a black dude armed with a pistol. They turned over their money to him and he fled on Barracks toward N. Rampart Street.

The 8th District has released a computer composite (right) of the robber who was described as 22 to 26 years old, 6' tall, weighing 165 pounds, with shoulder-length dreadlocks, wearing a white T-shirt and dark pants.

They came armed: Armed robbers took advantage of 2 more pedestrians in the past week:

• Sunday (5.16.10) 2:30 a.m.: A white man walking near Burgundy and St. Louis streets was robbed by 2 black dudes, one of whom was armed and demanded his money. The duo fled on foot on St. Louis toward N. Rampart Street.

Both were described as 20 to 25 years old, about 6' tall, weighing 180 pounds, both with short hair, one wearing a white T-shirt and red shorts and the other dressed in all dark-colored clothing.

• Sunday (5.9.10) 4:30 a.m.: A white woman was held up by a knife-wielding black hoodlum in the 1700 block of Pauger Street (between N. Rampart Street and St. Claude Avenue in the Marigny Triangle). Though he made off with all her dough, she apparently wasn't too traumatized by the incident since she didn't report it to police until 2 days later.

The robber was described as 5'9" tall, with a medium build, clean shaven, wearing a black T-shirt, black shorts, and a black bandana.

Another Jindal pal in the news: Seth Dawson, 45, whom Gov. Bobby Jindal appointed to the Louisiana Police Commission, was arrested at Harrah's Casino early Wednesday (5.12.10) morning after nearly getting into a gunfight with a security guard there.

Around 1 a.m., he returned to the casino after he'd been asked to leave by security guards. He allegedly pulled a pistol and threatened the guard. Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff's deputies on the scene made the arrest.

Dawson was charged with felony aggravated assault upon a police officer with a firearm and 5 misdemeanor charges: disturbing the peace (drunk), simple battery, remaining in a place after forbidden, illegal carrying a weapon, and violence toward/resisting an officer.

He was released from jail the next day on $55,000 bond.

A private matter: A pair of black dudes who had just left a private party at Michaul's Restaurant, 840 St. Charles Ave., at 2:42 a.m. Sunday (5.16.10) heard gunshots and then realized they'd been shot.

They were taken by private car to the hospital where they were listed in stable condition. They told police they were unable to give a description of the shooters.

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

Thom Kahler

Serpas outlines his plans

In case you missed Ronal Serpas' remarks after he was sworn in Tuesday (5.11.10) as New Orleans' new police chief, here's what he said he would do to make the city safe again:

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"Mister Mayor, members of the council, members of the search committee, distinguished guests, friends, family and the men and women of the New Orleans Police Department…in the words of Satchmo, “I know what it means to miss New Orleans!"

Thank you for this opportunity, and this challenge, to come home and serve again. Nine years ago we were called away–today we have been called home.

As I reflected upon the words of Mayor Landrieu’s inaugural speech, his vision and understanding of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead is clear. His words should lift us all, both the community and those of us in the New Orleans Police Department who serve with pride and dignity. 'There is nothing broken that cannot be fixed. No problem here that cannot be solved.'

Today I call upon each member of the New Orleans Police Department to reflect upon why you chose to serve in the most noble profession on the planet. Today I call upon each of you to lift up your spirit, to renew your dedication and to reconnect with the emotions that ran deep in your heart and soul when you chose to join...when you chose to serve. Make no mistake–we are here to serve and I look forward to our service together.

Today we rededicate the New Orleans Police Department and all of its members to the call to serve our community. Today we remind ourselves that it is community first. Today we reaffirm our commitment to one another to pursue valor and determination–professionalism and accountability.

Today we call upon all the neighborhoods and communities of New Orleans to help us to serve. We, the police, have always been and always will be an extension of you, the community we serve. In our earliest days we stood as watchman together for one another. Over time and history we created police departments to stand watch for us all. It is time to reconnect the two: as we stand watch for you, we will together watch over one another.

Today we know that there are many challenges that face us, but also know that we can build upon our successes, one step at a time. We must remember that each time we are called to assist, each time we confront crime and the horrible hold it has upon our friends, families, businesses and guests, that we have the opportunity to make a difference.

Making a difference every day is what policing is all about. Being there when a motorist is stranded, working hand in hand with our communities every day to take back our streets so that children, parents and grandparents can enjoy their front yards.

Or, as my grandparents would say, play on the “neutral ground,” or to walk along the “banquette,” never forgetting to stop at the “curbin” before crossing the street. As any New Orleanian knows, it is not North, South, East and West...it is Uptown, Downtown, River and Lake. We must and we will win back every neighborhood, one street at a time from all four points on the New Orleans compass.

Our recipe will be simple and straightforward; we will use the community policing philosophy as implemented through decentralized district-based commands to fully implement our crimefighting and quality-of-life initiatives.

Our first priority, every day, will be to relentlessly, legally and professionally pursue those who would do violence. Beginning tomorrow, I will convene a conference call of district commanders as well as the homicide and sex crimes commanders to get a full briefing on the prior 24 hours of any violent crime in our city. The briefing by these commanders will focus not on what crime happened–it will focus on what do we know, what have we done and what will we do about those crimes.

To those who choose violence in our city, let there be no mistake about this: we will not rest, we will not waver, we will not lose focus, and we will not blink.

Community policing provides for individualized police service throughout the diverse communities of New Orleans. All neighborhoods are not the same; each neighborhood deserves a police response tailored to its needs–that is what community policing is.

Community policing provides the framework for prioritized problem solving with our neighborhoods, as well as a direct accountability link between the New Orleans Police Department and the community itself.

Community policing ties this all together. The outcomes of our partnership and problem solving must be relentlessly followed up by the leadership of our police department to ensure the entire New Orleans Police Department is focused.

Building communities is perfectly matched to community policing principles. When people are safe they enjoy their neighborhood and become more safe. When people are safe, they use our schools. When people are safe, they boost our economy.

To accomplish our goals, we will instill three basic principles in our daily service to this great city: Accountability, Transparency and Collaboration. It is my expectation and my promise that the application of these three principles will allow us to fix what is broken, to restore public confidence in the New Orleans Police Department and make this city safe.

ACCOUNTABILITY
My expectation of service by our team is also as simple and straightforward: truthfulness and ethical behavior–there will be no tolerance for deviation.

Professional treatment of our citizens in every encounter, be it a call for service, a warrant to be served, an arrest to be made or a vehicle stop to be conducted, throughout this community. This same courteous and professional behavior will be equally expected with our partners in the District Attorney’s office, throughout the criminal justice system, and with one another. This is our basic duty and it is non-negotiable.

We will expect no less than a full day’s effort each and every day. One superintendent cannot do it alone, we will require and expect supervisors to supervise, which ensures our team is accountable for its actions or inactions.

Our Public Integrity Bureau and department will reflect and respect the joint efforts of the city's Inspector General and the independent police monitor.

We will build and strengthen our partnerships with the FBI and U.S. Attorney to seek out and prosecute corrupt officers.

TRANSPARENCY
It is true that we cannot have enough sunlight and candor. I unequivocally support the call by Mayor Landrieu to the Department of Justice and look forward to working hand in hand with Federal authorities.

Our weekly Comstat meetings will be open to the public beginning next week. Likewise, district commanders are also instructed to open their weekly Comstat meetings to the public and other partners in their crime fighting and community building efforts.

It is just plain right to include any and all who want to witness the tremendous effort, dedication and focus of our leadership teams and the officers and staff they represent as they work to make our city safe.

We want to document an accurate crime rate as our first priority. Nationwide 50% of crime is unreported; in Nashville we achieved through our efforts the public reporting approximately 80% of crime. We will build and strengthen our partnerships with the FBI and U.S. Attorney to seek out and prosecute corrupt officers. We must restore our citizens' trust and confidence to report crime.

Our measure of success is day to day, month to month, and year to year and we must work every day to achieve that success.

I will call for an immediate audit of our crime reporting mechanisms by state and federal authorities.

I will call for an immediate partnership with educational institutions to evaluate our computer systems that capture and report our crime data.

We will immediately reevaluate the training of officers and supervisors in preparing police investigative reports and the proper classifying of those crime reports.

We will immediately being crafting and implementing monthly audit systems.

We will open for public inspection and regular review our crime reporting systems and data by external parties.

COLLABORATION
Collaborating and cooperating with the people of New Orleans is everyone’s responsibility and it starts with me.

Collaborating and cooperating with the criminal justice system at the local, state and federal levels is everyone’s responsibility and it starts with me.

Collaborating and cooperating with the political systems, local, state and federal is everyone’s responsibility and it starts with me.

Collaborating and cooperating with the media is everyone’s responsibility and it starts with me.

As we look to the future, I know that many challenges remain. But, working hand and hand with all of our communities and neighborhoods, we can make a difference.
As we look to the future, I know that there are countless dedicated professional men and women of the New Orleans Police Department, and working hand in hand we will make a difference.

Mr. Mayor: My family and I have returned...we have come home to New Orleans because we believe its best days are ahead and we want to be part of that future! Thank you, and this city, for the opportunities our home provides."

Superintendent Ronal W. Serpas

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

Thom Kahler

New era at NOPD

New chief sworn in: Ronal Serpas was sworn in this afternoon as the new superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department, heralding an end to 8 years of lackadaisical law enforcement that made New Orleans the most unsafe city in the U.S.

His record of reducing crime wherever he's gone should give every citizen of this city reason for optimism that our streets will once again be safe to walk at any hour. He served notice on criminals that there was a new sheriff in town, so to speak: "Violent crime is a our No. 1 issue and we're going to be on it like a dog on a bone," he told those at the swearing-in ceremony at Gallier Hall.

As we reported a couple of weeks ago, we expected Mitch Landrieu to name Serpas the new chief of the New Orleans Police Department before he took office as mayor last Monday (5.3.10). He did just that, calling and offering Serpas the job a few days after our report.

Landrieu waited to announce the appointment until last Thursday (5.6.10), apparently after getting the feds on board to straighten out the woeful department. It'll be much the same situation Serpas faced in 1996 when he took over as chief of operations of the NOPD and the department was under the watchful eye of the FBI in the wake of corruption among the rank and file.

NOcrimeline first suggested Serpas as an ideal candidate for police chief 18 months ago if Mayor Nagin wanted to man up and get rid of the useless Big Chief Riley.

More information now?: When I first proposed the concept of NOcrimeline a little over 3 years ago to Maj. Edwin Hosli, who had just taken over as commander of the 8th District, he was receptive. But he wanted to run it by 2 people first: his boss, Chief of Operations Anthony Cannatella, and his best friend, Ronal Serpas, who was then the police chief of Nashville.

Serpas told him he thought it was a great idea, that the more information you can give the citizenry the better. Neither he nor Cannatella saw anything wrong with sharing the C-log reports that are the substance of the weekly Comstat meetings of the district commanders. In remarks after his swearing in yesterday as police chief, Serpas announced that all Comstat meetings, where the NOPD's top brass plot strategies against crime, will be open to the public and the media.

(Former chief Warren Riley, by contrast, was terrified the public would know what the NOPD was doing--perhaps because it was doing so damn little. Maj. Hosli was fully cooperative with NOcrimeline until Riley put the kibosh on giving us PDF files of all police reports and a daily copy of the crime map for the district. Perhaps Serpas' influence will allow that procedure to resume, giving citizens the information they need to avoid becoming a victim of crime.)

It would be splendid to see him turn the department-wide job of public information over to now-interim Chief Marlon Defillo, who handled the job with aplomb before he was dragged into the chief's office. Get rid of the half dozen or so seat warmers in the Public Information Office who supply little info to the public and let them go be cops again.

And if you want the district commanders to develop more rapport with the citizens of their districts, let them be the ones to go on camera and before reporters to tell what's happening in their bailiwicks, rather than have it filtered through officers from other departments who too often seem ill informed.

Deputy chiefs?: It would be nice to see Serpas lure back some of the bright stars who left the NOPD in frustration under Riley and to dig others out of the darkest recesses of the NOPD where Riley hid them because he feared their challenge to his weak grip on power.

Who are we talking about?

• How about Louis Dabdoub for one? He was one of 6 finalist for chief, showing how bright he is, although he'd never been a chief before. He was an outstanding leader when he was commander of the 2nd District (Uptown) and then the 8th District (French Quarter) before being exiled to the 4th District (Algiers) when he insisted on enforcing laws then-chief Eddie Compass told him not to. Dabdoub is now manager of corporate security for Entergy and probably would have to take a cut in pay to rejoin the NOPD.

• Danny Lawless, a former deputy chief under Compass who is now heads the Tulane University police force, and is well thought of by NOPD officers and the public.

• Eddie Compass himself. He's not chief material (as we all learned) but he was widely respected in the NOPD as an expert in community policing. Pennington named him commander of the 1st District (Treme and Iberville Projects) in the mid-90's when it was the one district that seemed to be untamable. Compass tamed it with creative strategies. He now heads the Recovery School District's police contingent.

The missing who are buried somewhere in the bureaucracy of the NOPD so their stars wouldn't shine to bright and show how dim Riley was:

• Capt. Jeff Winn, a former district commander and head of the SWAT team;

• Capt. Tim Bayard, once a district commander and head of the vice crimes/narcotics section;

• Capt. Harry Mendoza, former head of the SWAT team and traffic division commander.

All 3 were instrumental in holding the NOPD together after Katrina, when no high ranking officials could be found to command.

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

Thom Kahler

Only working weekends?

The economy to blame?: Is the economy that bad--or good--that the bad guys now only ply their trade on the weekends in the French Quarter and surrounding environs? It would seem so, based on the crime reports we've had the last 2 weeks--all occurred on the weekend.

• Sunday (5.9.10) 3:05 a.m.: 2 white couples walking in the 1200 block of Bourbon Street (between Gov. Nicholls and Barracks streets) were robbed by a black dude armed with a pistol. They turned over their money to him and he fled on Barracks toward N. Rampart Street.

The robber was described as 22 to 26 years old, 6' tall, weighing 165 pounds, with shoulder-length dreadlocks, wearing a white T-shirt and dark pants.

• Saturday (5.8.10) 5:15 a.m.: 4 white men walking in the 900 block of Kerlerec Street (between Burgundy and Dauphine streets) were robbed at gunpoint by 3 black punks who made off with their money.

The robbers were only described as being 18 to 20 years old.

• Saturday (5.1.10) 2:15 a.m.: A white woman walking alone in the 2100 block of N. Rampart Street (between Frenchmen Street and Elysian Fields Avenue) was robbed by a knife-wielding black thug.

He was described as 18 to 25 years old, 6' tall, with a thin build, and shoulder-length dreadlocks.

Still stealing phones: The cellphone bandits are still targeting iPhones from distracted phoneheads:

• Saturday (5.8.10) 2:43 a.m.: 2 white guys walking near Dauphine and St. Louis streets were attacked from behind and knocked to the ground by 3 black thugs. The crooks took one of the victim's cellphones from his pocket before fleeing on St. Louis toward N. Rampart Street.

One thief was described as 18 to 26 years old, 5'5" tall, with a muscular build, wearing a blue and white striped shirt; the second was 19 to 20 years old, 5'10" tall, with a slim build, wearing khaki pants; the third was 6'1" tall, with a slim build, wearing a blue baseball cap.

• Sunday (5.2.10) 4:30 a.m.: A white man walking in the 600 block of Frenchmen Street (between Royal and Chartres streets, in the heart of the music district) had his cellphone grabbed from his hand as he was using it by a black thief who fled on foot up Royal toward Esplanade Avenue.

The victim was unable to give a complete description of the assailant to the police--perhaps due to the hour and the proximity of so many bars.

Other quick hits: Not all robbers were after phones, some would settle for money:

• Monday (5.10.10) 4:00 a.m.: A white man walking in the 200 block of Carondelet Street (between Common and Gravier streets in the CBD) was jumped from behind by 3 black goons who knocked him to the ground. They took the money from the victim's pockets and fled toward Howard Street.

The victim was unable to give a detailed description of the robbers.

• Saturday (5.8.10) 3:18 a.m.: A lone white woman walking in the 800 block of Elysian Fields Avenue (between Burgundy and Dauphine streets) had her purse snatched from her shoulder by a black punk who fled on foot down Dauphine into the Marigny.

He was described as 5'9" tall, weighing 150 pounds, wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans.

• Sunday (5.2.10) 5:23 a.m.: A white man walking near Dauphine and Toulouse streets was approached by 3 black hoodlums, one of whom struck him and demanded his money. The robbers told the money from the victim's pockets and fled on foot up Dauphine toward St. Louis Street.

One robber was described as 5'10" tall, with dreadlocks, wearing a dark polo shirt; the second was 5'10" tall, with a medium build; the third was 6' tall, wearing a gray tank top and dark pants.

• Sunday (5.2.10) 4:45 a.m.: A white guy walking in the 700 block of Esplanade Avenue (between Bourbon and Royal streets) was approached by 3 black thugs, one of whom struck him in the head, knocking him to the ground (where have we heard this modus operandi before?). The robbers cleaned the victim's pockets of cash and fled on foot up Royal toward Canal Street.

All 3 robbers were wearing black shirts with white letters (isn't it nice to belong to a club?) and dark jeans. One was described as 5'8" tall, with a thin build; the second was 6'4" tall; and the third was not described other than his identical outfit.

What's going on here? : The common threads in all the crimes above are:

• all occurred between midnight and dawn, which questions the wisdom of being out and running around town--except if you're a tourist and can't do that at home, or if you're a bar owner and recognize how lucrative those hours are;

• all the victims were white folks and all the robbers were black, which makes you wonder what would happen if black folks were being assaulted at all hours of the night by white folks--can you imagine the hue and cry of racism?

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

Thom Kahler

Phone it in

Yakitty-yak: It's tempting to say they got what they had coming to them, but no one deserves to be robbed--even if they are yakking on their cellphone rather than paying attention to the world around them.

After a string of at least 4 cellphone thefts last weekend, 8th District cops finally managed to apprehend a young black boy on Monday who appears to be linked to all the robberies.

But because the little scofflaw is a juvenile under 16 years old, we'll never know what happens to him for these crimes. We'll have to wait until he turns professional when he turns 17 and continues his life of crime.

Here's his latest string of offenses:

• Friday (4.23.10) 1:09 a.m.: A white woman walking near Esplanade Avenue and Decatur street had her cellphone grabbed from her hand by a black boy. He took off on foot on Esplanade toward Elysian Fields Avenue.

He was described as 5'11" tall, weighing 145 pounds, with pulled back braided hair, and wearing all dark-colored clothing.

• Friday (4.23.10) 3:00 a.m.: Less than 2 hours later, another white woman walking in the 600 block of Frenchmen Street--in the heart of the music scene--had her cellphone snatched from her hand. The black boy who did it fled on foot up Frenchmen toward Esplanade.

He was described at 5'11" tall, weighing 150 pounds.

• Saturday (4.24.10) 11:05 p.m.: The next night, he went into the CBD and grabbed a cellphone from a black woman in the 200 block of Baronne Street (a block the other side of Canal Street between Common and Gravier streets) before fleeing on Barrone to Union Street to Carondelet Street.

He was described as 5'11" tall, with a thin build, in his early 20's, with shoulder-length dreadlocks.

• Monday (4.26.10) 2:42 a.m.: After taking Sunday off for good behavior (I doubt it) the young hooligan resumed his reign of terror, which turned out to be his undoing. He yanked the cellphone from the hand of a white man standing in the 100 block of Bourbon Street near Canal Street and took off running on Canal to Dauphine Street, turning toward Esplanade.

This is when the cops caught up with him and threw him in the slammer.

Now, how about rounding up the boy's mama and putting the shackles on her too? She's the one who let her baby boy run wild on the streets--and what did she think when all those cellphones began showing up in her house?

The other question is: In all this time, didn't a single cop notice a black boy who was clearly young enough to be violating curfew running around right under their noses? Put down your cellphones, guys, and pay attention.

But it never ends: You'd think after arresting that black boy early Monday morning for a string of crimes you'd get a breather. Not so.

• Monday (4.26.10) 11:15 p.m.: That night a white woman walking in the 500 block of Decatur Street (between St. Louis and Toulouse streets) had her purse (with a phone in it?) snatched by a black boy. He fled on foot down Toulouse toward N. Rampart Street.

She described him as 5'9" tall, weighing 165 pounds, and wearing a white T-shirt and dark pants.

Another arrest: Earlier in the week, cops arrested another black dude for a pursesnatching on Wednesday (4.21.10). A white woman was walking in the CBD on Common Street near Carondelet when a black guy, accompanied by his girlfriend, grabbed her purse from her shoulder and fled in separate directions.

Police apprehended Terrell Pierce, 19, and Iesha Mark, 22. Pierce was charged with pursesnatching. Mark was initially booked as being a principal to pursesnatching, but those charges were apparently dismissed since she doesn't appear in any court records.

Pierce was free at the time of this crime on a $3,500 bond set by Judge Robin Pittman after he was charged with burglary of an inhabited dwelling. He is now being held in OPP on a $25,000 bond for the pursesnatching charge.

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

Thom Kahler

Chief Serpas?

You heard it here first: If everything goes as it should, Mitch Landrieu will name Ronal Serpas as chief of the NOPD before he's sworn in as New Orleans mayor on Monday.

You might recall that NOcrimeline named Serpas as a possible candidate for police chief 18 months ago. In that same article, we also mentioned former Capt. Louis Dabdoub as a very real possibility, along with Assistant Chief Marlon Defillo and Capt. Jeff Winn.

• Serpas led the list of 3 finalists announced by the mayor-elect's search committee this afternoon. Landrieu will now interview them and make his choice.

Also on that list are John Harrington, police chief of St. Paul, MN and Ronald Davis, police chief of East Palo Alto, CA.

• Dabdoub was on the short list of 6 candidates announced Monday afternoon, along with Bruce Preston Marquis, police chief of Norfolk, VA and John R. Batiste, chief of the Washington State Patrol.

Those 3 were eliminated today after the search committee interviewed them face to face yesterday.

• Defillo had a phone interview with the search committee but was not invited to the second round of in-person interviews.

Defillo probably merited more consideration but was perhaps too tainted by Chief Warren Riley's reputation. A place has to be found in the department for a cop of Defillo's competence and integrity.

• Winn has since come under investigation of his role in some post-Katrina shootings involving NOPD officers which has put a cloud over his career.
  

Why Serpas and not Dabdoub or one of the other candidates?

1) Landrieu in a TV interview Monday night made the obvious clear: to be successful in New Orleans you have to understand and appreciate the peculiar culture here. Both Serpas and Dabdoub fill that bill; can you imagine one of the other candidates coming around the corner and being face to face with a Mardi Gras Indian for the first time?

2) Landrieu previously said he wanted a police chief that has a proven track record as a chief in another city. Serpas has been police chief of Nashville, TN since 2004. The crime rate there has dropped each year since, and last year was the lowest in that city since 1978.

Dabdoub is the only candidate on the short list that has not been a police chief, which shouldn't, but might, if Landrieu sticks to his criterion, work against a much-admired police commander.

• Serpas made his passion for the city very emphatic in announcing he was seeking the chief's job in New Orleans. He noted he had previously denied interest in the job a couple of months ago, but then stated in a release Monday: "However, in the 2 months that have followed, I have been encouraged by many lifelong friends in New Orleans to consider this opportunity. New Orleans was my home for 41 years, and the home of my family since the 1800s. All 3 of my children were born there. I worked in the New Orleans police department for 21 years, from 1980 until 2001...New Orleans has a special history for me and my family..." That is what Landrieu was talking about.

Serpas was plucked from the ranks and made the first chief of operations--the number 2 post in the NOPD--when the department 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 high school dropout, he resumed his education and earned a doctorate from the University of New Orleans in urban studies. He left New Orleans in 2001 to become chief of the Washington State Police and then chief in Nashville, which has a police force similar in size to New Orleans' for a city/county much larger.

Serpas and current 8th District commander, Maj. Edwin Hosli, are long-time best friends. They were best man at each other's wedding and continue to stay in close contact. If Serpas becomes chief, you could expect to see a significant promotion for Hosli, say as deputy chief in charge of the Public Integrity Bureau, a good fit for a straight shooter like Hosli.

• Dabdoub is no slouch either. As a captain he was commander of the 2nd District (Uptown) under Serpas who was chief of operations.
  

When I first met Capt. Dabdoub after he was named commander of the 8th District (French Quarter) in 2002, I remember going home and saying, "I just met the guy who is 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 exiled unceremoniously from the 8th District to the 4th District (Algiers), an obvious demotion. Not long after he resigned from the NOPD, he went to work for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; he is now head of corporate security for Entergy.

An ideal resolution might be Serpas as chief and Dabdoub as assistant chief in charge of operations, the No. 2 man as the day-to-day boss of the district commanders.

• Harrington is retiring in June from the St. Paul Police Department after a 33-year career there, the last 6 years as chief, a position for which he did not seek reappointment.

Why is some one concluding his career seeking the top job in New Orleans? Is he competent to manage a department the size of the NOPD, which has 1,600+ officers compared to the 610 he supervised in St. Paul?

• Davis appears to be a career job-seeker who can't wait to get the hell out of the San Francisco Bay area. On Monday, the same day he was named to the short list here and was enroute to New Orleans to be interviewed, he was also named to the short list in Seattle, WA. and is due there for an interview May 8.
  

Is he really fit to manage the NOPD's 1,600+ cops when he commanded only 39 in East Palo Alto? Will he be on he plane to somewhere else when he finds he can't?

Landrieu's choice should be obvious, considering Serpas' competence and experience. If he makes any other choice, it will be a major gaff in his stint as mayor. He has the opportunity to deliver to the people of New Orleans the best police chief imaginable.

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

Thom Kahler