Photo by Smarter via Flickr Creative Commons
Even in a town as jaded by murder as New Orleans, there are acts of violence that still shock and enrage the public. The murder of the Good Samaritan Harry “Mike” Ainsworth who was gunned down in front of his children while trying to stop an early morning carjacking is one such case. The neighborhood where the murder occurred has banded together, creating a neighborhood watch and posting police sketches of the murder on every possible surface. They demanded and received an audience with NOPD Chief Ronal Serpas, who told the assembly:
You’re not going to stand for it. We’re not going to stand for it. We’re going to demand that we become a better police department. I’m not satisfied with this police department yet, not at all, but we’re going to make this department what it has to be.
And Mayor Landrieu unveiled his latest program to fight the violence he referred to as being “unnatural and unacceptable.” Citing illegal weapons as a “major reason for the crime rate,” Landrieu proposed that New Orleans implement a crime fighting program borrowed from St. Louis that requires a minimum bond of $30,000 for illegal possession of a firearm. Landrieu’s version of the program additionally calls for these offenders to have to pay for and wear an electronic ankle bracelet.
Nice idea if it was narrowly targeted to focus on the worst offenders – but a blanket “set higher bonds” just means poor people suffer disproportionately. It doesn’t address the real problem. This program, like too many before it, is a copout solution that sounds like you are doing something. We need to seriously examine the ease with which people get guns – at least in the city. If the mayor thinks there are too many people with guns, lobby to make the gun laws more restrictive, and then prosecute and convict under those stricter laws.
People want it both ways:
- Guns, guns, guns for everybody, and no laws to limit them;
- Then we want to complain that the bad guys have too many guns.
Do the math. More guns means more guns for everybody.
Don’t get the idea that I want to ban ALL guns to everybody, I just think we need to find a way to control the unlimited flow of weapons we presently have. I’m not certain how, but if we were willing to even start down that road we might find an answer that worked. Problem is, we won’t even look in that direction.
Photo by Erin Hughes via Flickr Creative Commons
Tulane criminologist Peter Scharf is collecting data that suggests that increased services to convicted felons is good for society at large. Specifically, he is talking about increased mental health services, to accommodate the needs of the nearly 40% of the prison population that suffers from mental health issues.
“Typically, guys are medicated while they’re in jail, but they lose their prescriptions when they’re out on the streets,” Scharf told the Tulane New Wave. “Then they self-medicate with marijuana or stronger drugs. I believe it’s more effective to treat mental illness as part of a continuum of programs for correctional re-entry into society after prison.”
We are spending $65 billion on confining prisoners in the United States. We have the highest incarceration rate in the world. And, here in Louisiana, we have a recidivism rate of more than 50%. I’d say it’s time to shake things up a bit.
I would argue that the more money we spend on mental health, drug treatment and job training for ex-offenders on the front end, the less we spend incarcerating them on the back end.
Scharf hopes to provide more understanding to the links between mental health, drug abuse and the resulting violent crimes they foster. He believes we can save money and help people with the same investment.
I think he is worth listening to.
Tags:
For the second year running, NOLA Criminal Law is sponsoring the Hub Elite Cycling Team. The team, based in Athens, GA competes in elite level cycling events throughout the southeast. NOLA Criminal Law is proud to support and promote the sport of cycling, as well as to advocate for safe and responsible recreational/commuter cycling in New Orleans.
A still from the upcoming documentary Shell Shocked: The New Orleans Youth Story
My twitter feed is blowing up:
“Cops working several shootings in city at moment 1) Shooting Claiborne/Carrollton 2) Triple shooting on Elysian Fields 3) 1300 blk Columbus”
“Nelson elementary in Gentilly on lockdown as cops search for gunman. At least one suspect fired gunshots. Three suspects in custody”
“For those asking, we have 11 murders over first 12 days of this year — not including man fatally shot by cops today.”
Brendan McCarthy, crime reporter for the Times Picayune, is tweeting the pulse of New Orleans moment by moment, and the words on the screen of my iPhone are not looking good. We’ve got a problem, New Orleans.
Sure, it’s easy to call it a crime problem – but I’m not talking about a crime problem – I’m talking about a fixing problem.
At the beginning of this year, The Atlantic did a photos essay/article, “Patrolling the Streets of New Orleans at Night.” A photographer accompanies a young policeman on a ride-along, to see what the NOPD are doing about violent crime. The cop featured in the story is 23-year old David DeSalvo. Viewing the photos and seeing what he sees nightly is a sobering experience. This is not the land-of-dreams New Orleans. This is not the recovering, rebounding, rejoicing New Orleans that we tout to the nation and the world.
A new documentary is coming out that shows the staggering toll of violence in New Orleans: Shell Shocked: The New Orleans Youth Story. The filmmaker, John Richie, told WWL News that they didn’t meet one African-American youth who had not been touched in some way by violent crime to themselves or someone they know — a sad commentary on the dire situation at hand, indeed. (See WWL article)
The city’s leaders aren’t sure what to do. Mayor Landrieu formed SOS NOLA, an anti-violence initiative, and holds press conferences with Serpas whenever there is an overnight spike. Our D.A. touts his track record of accepting more and more criminal cases, and taking more and more of those cases to trial.
I am a criminal defense attorney. I spend time in the trenches defending these cases. When crime gets bad, and the powers-that-be start to respond, I get phone calls – I get cases. Right now my phone is ringing off the hook, and I’m in court more often than not faced with an offender looking at a D.A. hell bent on making a point. Sounds great right? Bad guys being called to task.
The problem for the citizens of this great city is that the people calling me aren’t the bad guys – they are college kids and tourists being hassled by NOPD and prosecuted by the D.A. for relatively minor violations. Sure, some bad guys are still getting arrested and prosecuted, but the vast majority of criminal prosecutions – touted as “the answer” to the crime problem – are for relatively minor, non-violent crimes. They have no effect on the real problem.
Remember back in 2010 that the New Orleans City Council voted unanimously to designate marijuana possession a municipal offense, allowing police an option to issue a summons rather than make an arrest. The intention behind the change was that NOPD would have more time to deal with major crimes. Remember that? But here it is, 2012. Hundreds of kids are being hauled into court for marijuana possession, but the murder rate is still spiraling out of control.
The other prosecution du jour – Minors in Possession of Alcohol – a real public menace, right? In the fall of 2010 the NOPD received a grant to begin stepped-up enforcement of this crime. Since then, literally thousands of kids have been stopped by NOPD and prosecuted by the City for this charge.
We need more resources and more cops on the beat of David DeSalvo, beating a path in the city’s most violent neighborhoods, taking guns off the streets and out of the hands of our children. We need to spend our time and resources prosecuting bad guys, not pot heads and underage drinkers. Until we can properly identify and commit to solving the real crime problem, our efforts will have no real effect. As long as we continue to believe that prosecuting more “crime” can solve the problem, the longer we will continue to avoid fixing the real crime problem.
Not all murders are the same. And the difference can often be found in the character of the victim. As the New Orleans murder rate cycles from epidemic to pandemic, Superintendent Ronal Serpas is trying to remind average, law-abiding citizens that their risk of getting murdered is very slim. He has made the decision to publish the past criminal records of the city’s homicide victims, thereby hoping to send the citizens of New Orleans a message: most of the victims of the city’s many widely publicized murders are themselves criminals.
But is this the best (read: most tactful) way of doing this? Doesn’t the insinuation that their murder was somehow their own fault smack of an affront to the families of the recently deceased at an especially vulnerable time? Perhaps. There are certainly arguments on both sides.
NOPD spokeswoman Remi Braden wrote, “I think it’s important for us to reassure locals who live by the law that they’re most likely going to be absolutely fine if they refrain from criminal activity.” David Kennedy, head of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control, also told the Times-Picayune something similar: that the majority of homicide victims have extensive criminal histories, and that’s a fact the general public needs to know. According to NOPD data, 64 percent of murder victims have been arrested for a felony. “When we act as if this fact of prior criminal activity isn’t true, we send the signal that everybody’s at risk all the time,” Kennedy said.
Serpas seems to be keen on publicizing what many of us have sensed for some time — trouble follows trouble. It is, no doubt, reassuring to understand the connection between murder and the criminal behavior of the victims of murder, and by reminding folks on a case-by-case basis that the victims of murder were themselves involved in allegedly criminal conduct can certainly accomplish this.
But perhaps Serpas has taken too tactless of an approach. Consider Corey Thompson, who was killed not far from his home in the 6th Ward because the gunman wanted retribution against Thompson’s friends. Thompson himself did almost nothing to entice the murderer. So when Thompson’s criminal record of a simple battery arrest – ultimately dismissed – was released by the NOPD and later shown on the news, Hyatta Droughn, Thompson’s aunt, was rightly concerned.
“I felt like, ‘Why would they bring that up?’ ” she told the Times-Picayune. “His only arrest happened when he was a child. And his murder had nothing to do with that.” And she has a point.
Perhaps the blunt approach of releasing criminal records is too personal – and frankly, awkward. A better approach, it seems, would be to tirelessly remind the citizens of this great city that the vast majority of murders in this city are not committed against the majority of innocent citizens, but against a small minority criminal element.
Bottom line: not all murder victims are the same, and not all murders should be publicized and reported as if a random act of violence has been perpetrated against an innocent victim. Serpas’ heart is in the right place to ever remind the city of this, but I’m not sure he has to make it as personal as to publicize individual rap sheets in order to do it.
Photo by BluEyedA73 via Flickr Creative Commons
Holiday parties are coming on strong now.. I thought it would be helpful to put out there my own sort of P.S.A. about drinking and driving this holiday season.
The wisest thing we can all do is abstain when we know we have to operate a vehicle. Everyone knows the slogan: “Don’t Drink and Drive.”
It seems simple. But in a season full of holiday parties and happy hours where Christmas cocktails are featured, and even office parties have eggnog and champagne, and the boss is pouring, it’s really not so easy, is it? Especially in a city like New Orleans, with an alcohol culture (hello drive thought daiquiri shops, go-cups and 24-hour bars!).
And to add to the confliction, there are terms tossed around like “legal limit” and “blood-alcohol concentration” and percentages and such, so that the definition of “drinking and driving” is no longer clear cut. The notion of a legal limit implies that it is, in fact, OK to imbibe little and still drive a car. Then you find yourself making value judgments about your intoxication level… how many glasses of wine can YOU drink before you are drunk? I blogged about this recently. A good rule of thumb is that the average healthy liver can handle about one drink per hour (.08% BAC) — anything more than that returns to the bloodstream where it becomes anything but harmless.
So here are some facts for you culled from my website, and some helpful legal information, in case you do overindulge and find yourself regretting that last candy cane cocktail.
- In Louisiana, any driver with a blood-alcohol concentration – or BAC – above .08% is measured “per se intoxicated” under the law.
- The penalty for a first offense DUI/DWI is ten days to six months (maximum) in prison, plus a fine that will range from $300 to $1000. Your driver’s license could be suspended or revoked. If it is your first offense, it is possible to avoid jail time, but you need an attorney to help keep you out of jail.
- My advice is to always refuse the roadside breath test. In most cases, this will hurt your case. (Note: If you HAVE NOT been drinking AT ALL, it may benefit you to go ahead and take the test, but only if you have had NOTHING to drink).
- Exercise your right to remain silent. You should only answer questions regarding basic information, like your name and address. Do not answer any other questions. But be very polite to the officers.
If you are going to drink, decide beforehand exactly how much you will allow yourself to drink. If you know that it only takes one and a half glasses of wine to make you giddy, then stop at one glass. If you know you can’t handle hard liquor at all, avoid it and have a beer. Savor that drink, make it last, and take sips of water in between every sip of alcohol. And once you hit your limit, stop. Switch to spritzer with lime, or coffee, or cranberry juice, or whatever you want. May this wise advice also keep you from being the fool at the office party.
Contact me if you need assistance. You can call or text message me, Townsend Myers, at 504-237-5425. @NOLAlaw on Twitter
In 2004, Milwaukee had 87 murders. This was unacceptable to the city so in 2005 they began a program that partnered law enforcement with community leaders to not only investigate these crimes, but try to understand the root causes for each individual murder. They had plenty of work to do as they looked into and analyzed the 121 murders that took place that year. This Homicide Review Commission’s intent was to delve into the cause of each murder then design a strategy to limit or eradicate the conditions and behaviors that had been at the root of the problem. By 2009 the Milwaukee murder rate had dropped from 40 percent to 72.
Will this program work in New Orleans?
In 2010 our city saw 175 murders. As of the publishing of this post, we’ve matched that number — we’ve had two murders today alone (Nov. 30). We are not getting better. Our murder rate is about ten times the national average.
While New Orleanians have for some time been saying this is unacceptable, the powers that be have perfected the art of blue ribbon commissions and have authorized enough studies to explain the totality of the human condition without much positive effect. So now, Mayor Landrieu has announced his Mayor’s Strategic Command to Reduce Murders based on the Milwaukee model. See the article in the Times-Picayune.
Here, several different “action teams” will convene monthly, Landrieu said. There’s an executive squad made up of officials from local and federal law enforcement agencies. There’s a team of officers that will spring into action following a murder, seeking out suspects and family members. There’s a group dedicated to the data and policy aspects of murder, as well as a team focused on community service and outreach.
Columnist Jarvis DeBerry doesn’t seem so optimistic about the mayor’s new plan, and takes issue with the administration’s downplay of our crime problem (which is very obvious to the rest of us as well as any tourists who might have happened to witness recent gunfights on Canal Street and Bourbon at Halloween). See DeBarry’s editorial, The New Orleans murder rate can’t be downplayed.
Reading about the mayor’s plan, I’m hopeful for any program that addresses the root causes of crime. But I am a bit dismayed by the fact that no one is really sure where the money will come from. And a quick look at the Milwaukee crime stats show that the murder rate has been creeping back up passing those unacceptable 2004 numbers that brought about the original review program. We’ll be watching their progress as we simultaneously watch our backs.
It’s not going to be an easy problem to solve.
Photo by Infrogmation of New Orleans via Flickr
I’ve written recently about the NOPD program for preventing future felonies by cracking down on misdemeanors. The theory behind it is that a small percentage of the population is responsible for the majority of the crime and just diverting a few young people from pursuing this lifestyle can make a big difference in future crime rates.
Whether or not you agree with that theory, business owners and residents of the French Quarter certainly do. They are banding together with the NOPD in a new initiative around a perceived similar correlation – this time, between graffiti and crime. See the article in the Times Picayune.
They are basing the initiative on a program piloted in New York City, which began cracking down on seemingly minor crimes like graffiti and vandalism. The “broken windows” program has been praised by law enforcement agencies as well as many empirical studies as being instrumental in stopping erosion of the urban landscapes and its safety.
The broken windows theory states that if you overlook small disrepair, you will eventually find yourself surrounded by large-scale decay. This idea was introduced by social scientists who suggested that broken windows in an abandoned property leads to squatting which leads to vandalism and theft.
French Quarter property owners contend that graffiti has nothing to do with art, and everything to do with degrading the historic neighborhood and claiming ownership. They say that where there is graffiti, there is crime.
Even though Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas has directed his officers to focus less on minor crimes, he says he agrees with the “broken window” approach and will back the neighborhood associations with a new crackdown on minor crimes in the Quarter. The program has already gotten underway as officers, backed by a recent state statute making graffiti in the historic district a felony, have made numerous arrests over the last few weeks.
Not everyone is convinced the “broken windows” theory is a winner, and I’ll be very interested to see how the trials of those presently being held for felony graffiti will be handled, but this is another audible shot by the residents of the city saying enough is enough, we deserve better.
Photo from New Orleans Magazine's Top 10 Female Achievers for 2009
The New Orleans Police Department Crisis Unit is losing an important asset. Cecile Tebo, who has spent the last seven years working for the unit battling the city’s mental health crisis with little funding and only a small group of volunteers at her disposal, is stepping down.
Who will now handle the nearly 300 calls a month she and her team received from suicidal, homicidal or disabled people in need of help? Who will help to maintain calm at the scene where mentally ill people are scared? And who will advocate for mental health awareness and care in New Orleans?
Now that Tebo is leaving, Sgt. Ben Glaudi will be the only remaining paid member of the New Orleans Police Department Crisis Unit. And unfortunately, it seems Tebo is leaving her post for reasons related to NOPD administration. According to an interview with WDSU:
“The administration made, overnight, some internal changes with my program — without my knowledge….I did not know the changes that were taking place. And the changes that took place were changes I was not comfortable with.”
Tebo has made Sisyphus look like a whiner as she’s worked with little help from a state that has been cutting funding for mental health and a city that doesn’t provide inpatient care for the mentally ill. For an example of Ms. Tebo’s passion and knowledge, see this guest column she wrote for the Times Picayune in 2010, where she illustrates how a broken mental health system in New Orleans is costing lives.
She tells the story of how New Orleans Police Officer Nicola Cotton was killed by a schizophrenic patient whose family had long tried to get him hospitalized in Louisiana — to no avail. “Unfortunately, despite the efforts of his family to get him long-term help, it took the death of Officer Cotton to bring light to the seriousness of his illness,” she wrote.
“The state continues to see a loss of mental health inpatient beds. Medicaid reimbursement rates for mental health are at the lowest tier despite the fact that mental illness is in the top five categories of medical and public safety concerns. Thousands suffer with mental illness. Yet, the majority of hospitals in the greater New Orleans area do not provide inpatient psychiatric beds.”
Unfortunately, that is the predicament we are still in today — and we need more advocates like Cecile Tebo. (See her profiled in New Orleans Magazine‘s 2009 Top 10 Female Achievers.) She will be missed at the New Orleans Police Department’s Mobile Crisis Unit. Here’s hoping her force of will and presence will remain with the city in some other capacity for the needy in New Orleans.
Every Federal Reserve note claims, “This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private.” But who are you going to believe, a blend of cotton and linen, or the Louisiana House of Representatives?
The House has identified the enemy, and it is cash. To save us all from this horror they’ve taken the first step to rid us of its destructive presence by arbitrarily outlawing its heinous use. House Bill 195 makes it illegal to use cash when buying or selling used goods… at least in most cases.
Buy or sell second hand goods at a garage sale, Goodwill, or through Craigslist and you’ll be required to use credit cards, checks or money orders. Go to a jewelry store and keep the cash in your pocket, but go to a pawn shop and cash will do. See? It makes perfect sense so far.
And as if it’s not bad enough that your can’t use cash at the flea market to buy that beaded macramé plant holder you’ve been eyeing, you’ll also be required to provide personal data such as your name, address, driver’s license number and, when applicable, your license plate number. This information will be transmitted to the state authorities and here lies the rub.
In these hard economic times the state is squeezing our opportunities to make a little extra, legal money. Consider the predicament of small business, such as the Pioneer Trading Post in Lafayette that makes its living dealing in “unique second hand items.” I’m not completely losing my mind over the House making my grandmother buy a card reader to sell sock monkeys, old slacks and painted crockery at her Saturday garage sale. But I could over the implication that they are making: that we are all crooks, and this is how they can help the police bring down our neighborhood black markets.
I’m well aware that people steal and sell things like televisions and copper, but there are measures in place to stop these activities that don’t paint us all with the same brush. For years, pawn shops have been required to collect data from customers as do those buying copper. I’m all for giving the police the tools necessary to protect us and our property, but to do so at the expense of personal and economic freedom and privacy, I say we crossed the line that takes us right off of the pages of the Constitution. Or as Ben Franklin put it, “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
I am a New Orleans Criminal defense lawyer, and the managing attorney of NOLA Criminal Law. I am a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, with over 17 years of experience as a criminal defense attorney in New Orleans, Louisiana. Please visit my website for more.
