Consensus is that New Orleans police must do better: Stephanie Grace

"Consensus," Mitch Landrieu said half-jokingly the other night, is "my favorite word."
This will come as no surprise to anyone who's been watching the new mayor, who has already exhibited a taste for communitywide buy-in.


New Orleans Mayor itch Landrieu shakes hands with Ronal Serpas after Serpas was sworn in as New Orleans police chief.

Landrieu had to be happy with what he heard at Monday evening's community meeting from his new police chief, the recently appointed police monitor, and the U.S. Justice Department officials who have embarked on a wide-ranging effort to fix what ails a deeply troubled department.

From this crowd, consensus was the word of the day -- which was also entirely predictable given the unique moment in time, when we know a lot more about where we are than where exactly we're heading.

The status quo itself is a sad rallying point for reform, punctuated by horrifying revelations about police brutality and after-the-fact cover-ups from cases such as the Danziger Bridge shootings. Independent Police Monitor Susan Hutson described what she's been hearing as "righteous anger." Landrieu and Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez each said they've never seen such universal agreement over the need for change.

We're also at that particular point at which all the bad stuff happened on someone else's watch, so everyone who's just arrived on the scene enjoys a clean slate.

Landrieu is out to make the most of that rare situation.

He phoned the Justice Department a day after he was elected mayor, he told the crowd assembled at a Superdome lounge, and asked them to come on down and "bring everything you've got." That was a good call, given that the feds were surely heading here anyway. This way, the relationship starts out as cooperative rather than antagonistic.

He also moved quickly to recast a fundamentally hostile relationship between ex-Superintendent Warren Riley's department and the inspector general, whose office houses the police monitor. Two days after being sworn in, he began a letter to Inspector General Ed Quatrevaux by declaring that it's a "new day in New Orleans," and promised to turn over documents that Riley had refused to provide.

Also contributing to the air of unity: The officials who appeared at the meeting preached the same gospel of accountability, transparency and best practices.

One of new Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas's first moves, he told the crowd, would be to open the data-driven COMSTAT meetings to the public. Perez promised funding for training in mediation, racial profiling and more, along with a library packed with research on policing tactics and an "A Team" of expert advisers.

"We're free help," he said.

Hutson added that part of her mission will be to "demystify" how complaints against police are handled.

For all the talk of unity, there were reminders of just how bumpy the road ahead is.

Serpas has yet to name his own leadership team, so the ranking officials who lined the front row consisted of holdovers from the Riley era who don't get the same benefit of a clean slate. Time will tell which ones stay or go, who will embrace change and who will react defensively.

Then there were the citizens who asked questions, many of whom spoke of indignities they and their families, friends and neighbors have suffered at the hands of police, often for reasons the speakers linked to race. The mayor and chief said they understood.

Maybe they managed to convince everyone there that they really did, but maybe not.

One point of seeming disconnect: Landrieu and Serpas, a career New Orleans cop who rose to second-in-command under Chief Richard Pennington before heading to Washington State and Nashville, harked back to what they remembered as the department's better days.

Pennington was indeed widely hailed as a success, but citizens who asked questions didn't distinguish between different regimes. As much as this is a changing of the guard, the department's problems can't all be pinned on the last mayor and police chief. Some patterns and problem officers have been around for decades, and so has the mistrust.

That's why the consensus among those who spoke on Monday was a decidedly mixed bag. There's definitely hope, but it's tempered by a healthy dose of skepticism.

Stephanie Grace is a staff columnist can be reached at or 504.826.3383.