Word: rileys
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...seat were New Orleans Police Department superintendent Warren Riley and New Orleans District Attorney Eddie Jordan, whose respective departments have lately been at odds over how to deal with the city's post-Hurricane Katrina crime wave. In 2006, even with a drastically reduced population, New Orleans had 161 murders, four times the national average. In the first 10 days of 2007, at least eight people were killed...
...That's not likely to happen. Even though Riley and Jordan downplay the friction between the two organizations, the tension was apparent at this week's meeting. "I think that was confirmed," said Rafael Goyeneche, president of the nonprofit watchdog group Metropolitan Crime Commission. "People who were at that meeting who hoped to walk out with a sense of hope were disappointed. If there is a disconnect between police and state prosecutors, the only winners are the criminals...
...Orleans' criminal justice system was broken even before Katrina, and things have only worsened since. The police department has lost 420 officers in the last two years, Riley said, 25 this year alone. Of the 1,392 currently left on the force, about 100 are out with injuries. With a housing shortage and lackluster salaries to offer, it's been tough to get new recruits. About 300 National Guard troops and 60 state police were dispatched last summer to help police get a handle on crime, and will remain in the city until at least June. And the city...
...council, pushing for timetables and deadlines, did manage to extract a few commitments. Riley agreed to have officers undergo intensive report-writing seminars led by state prosecutors; Jordan endorsed the idea of placing prosecutors in police precincts around the clock, so reports could be reviewed in a matter of hours, not days. And he agreed, sort of, to accept the results of field drug testing kits as evidence in some cases to prevent 701 releases, rather than the more time-consuming but superior lab tests...
...still don’t know where the buck stops,” she added, “is an abomination.” The film will be shown next in Washington, D.C., to lawmakers. It airs on HBO on Feb. 22. —Staff writer Erin F. Riley can be reached at eriley@fas.harvard.edu...