Phaetos
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http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/6839637.html
What this online article doesn't say, that local news and the printed version says under the caption is this: since mid-Monday night N.O, has had 4 murders, totaling 8 since Friday night. It's horrendous down there. Also, I think more than the 2 reported conventions have backed out of going this year.
New Orleans area’s problems with crime outlined
By JOE GYAN JR.
Advocate New Orleans bureau
Published: Apr 3, 2007
Plaquemines Parish has no jail. Neighboring St. Bernard lacks a juvenile detention center. Jefferson needs courtroom interpreters because the parish’s Hispanic base has exploded. Domestic violence and drug arrests are up in St. James and traffic violations have jumped 60 percent in St. Tammany as both parish’s populations have increased.
And gun sales have skyrocketed across the metropolitan area.
Those are just some of the challenges that the New Orleans area’s criminal justice system continues to wrestle with 19 months after Hurricane Katrina, the state House Judiciary Committee was told Monday.
“We still have an awful lot left to do before we’re back to where we were before the storms,’’ Louisiana Supreme Court Associate Justice Catherine “Kitty” Kimball of New Roads told the committee during a hearing at the State Capitol on the state of the judiciary and criminal justice system in New Orleans since Katrina.
On top of the aforementioned challenges, Orleans Parish Juvenile Court is “mightily struggling,’’ Kimball said.
“There are no beds available at this time for female juveniles,’’ she said, noting that the city is praying for the arrival of FEMA modular units before summer, when juvenile crime typically rises.
Orleans also is plagued by a financially ailing indigent defender office. A judge last week ordered the release of up to 42 criminal defendants, saying they are not being adequately represented by the office. He immediately delayed his order until April 18 so he could get more information from the District Attorney’s Office, the state bar association and the indigent defenders.
“We’ve got a very acute problem down in New Orleans,’’ Rep. Robert “Robby’’ Carter, D-Independence, said during Monday’s hearing. “Some of these hardened criminals who are being let out may come do their crimes in our neck of the woods.’’
Kimball said indigent defense funding falls to the Legislature, not the courts.
“We don’t have authority over the indigent defender boards,’’ she said, adding that money is not the sole answer. “It’s an extremely complicated problem.’’
So is solving the post-Katrina violent crime problem in New Orleans. Rep. Joseph “Joe’’ Toomy, R-Gretna, who is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said New Orleans’ crime problems — including the financial costs that follow them — have “obviously spilled over’’ into surrounding parishes.
The state is spending $30 million on state troopers and National Guard troops in the city, he reminded.
Toomy said crime is “horrendous’’ for residents and visitors alike, noting that at least one trade group recently cited concerns over crime and the city’s recovery in canceling plans to hold a convention in New Orleans while a second group is reportedly considering plans to scrub its New Orleans convention in two years.
Former state Attorney General Richard Ieyoub, who is working with Mayor Ray Nagin to improve the city’s criminal justice system, said the New Orleans Police Department’s pre-Katrina force of 1,700 officers is down to 1,300 today.
Rep. M.J. “Mert’’ Smiley Jr., R-Port Vincent, pointed out that the city’s post-storm population also is down substantially, and that 60 state troopers and 300 guardsmen continue to patrol the city, yet violent crime goes on unabated. He said the city has more law enforcement personnel per capita now than it did before the storm.
“You wonder what these people are actually doing,’’ Smiley said. “I’m just wondering why you need so many people to do the job that was being done before.’’
Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Newell Normand said the opposite is true in Jefferson, where the sheriff’s office is “policing a larger population today’’ with a smaller force of 1,350. That force was 1,650 pre-Katrina.
Normand said the parish’s prison still is not back to its pre-storm staff, which results in jail overcrowding releases — which in turn leads to drug offenders being arrested “over and over and over’’ and also contributes to officers leaving the force. He said the sheriff’s office’s attrition rate is “abysmal.’’
“We’re bailing (water from the boat that is taking on water) as fast as we can. We’re not catching up,’’ he said.
As for New Orleans, Ieyoub said Orleans Parish Criminal Court and Orleans Parish Prison are fully operational and there is a renewed spirit of cooperation between District Attorney Eddie Jordan and Police Superintendent Warren Riley.
“All in all, the criminal justice system in Orleans is better than it was pre-Katrina,’’ he said.
What this online article doesn't say, that local news and the printed version says under the caption is this: since mid-Monday night N.O, has had 4 murders, totaling 8 since Friday night. It's horrendous down there. Also, I think more than the 2 reported conventions have backed out of going this year.
New Orleans area’s problems with crime outlined
By JOE GYAN JR.
Advocate New Orleans bureau
Published: Apr 3, 2007
Plaquemines Parish has no jail. Neighboring St. Bernard lacks a juvenile detention center. Jefferson needs courtroom interpreters because the parish’s Hispanic base has exploded. Domestic violence and drug arrests are up in St. James and traffic violations have jumped 60 percent in St. Tammany as both parish’s populations have increased.
And gun sales have skyrocketed across the metropolitan area.
Those are just some of the challenges that the New Orleans area’s criminal justice system continues to wrestle with 19 months after Hurricane Katrina, the state House Judiciary Committee was told Monday.
“We still have an awful lot left to do before we’re back to where we were before the storms,’’ Louisiana Supreme Court Associate Justice Catherine “Kitty” Kimball of New Roads told the committee during a hearing at the State Capitol on the state of the judiciary and criminal justice system in New Orleans since Katrina.
On top of the aforementioned challenges, Orleans Parish Juvenile Court is “mightily struggling,’’ Kimball said.
“There are no beds available at this time for female juveniles,’’ she said, noting that the city is praying for the arrival of FEMA modular units before summer, when juvenile crime typically rises.
Orleans also is plagued by a financially ailing indigent defender office. A judge last week ordered the release of up to 42 criminal defendants, saying they are not being adequately represented by the office. He immediately delayed his order until April 18 so he could get more information from the District Attorney’s Office, the state bar association and the indigent defenders.
“We’ve got a very acute problem down in New Orleans,’’ Rep. Robert “Robby’’ Carter, D-Independence, said during Monday’s hearing. “Some of these hardened criminals who are being let out may come do their crimes in our neck of the woods.’’
Kimball said indigent defense funding falls to the Legislature, not the courts.
“We don’t have authority over the indigent defender boards,’’ she said, adding that money is not the sole answer. “It’s an extremely complicated problem.’’
So is solving the post-Katrina violent crime problem in New Orleans. Rep. Joseph “Joe’’ Toomy, R-Gretna, who is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said New Orleans’ crime problems — including the financial costs that follow them — have “obviously spilled over’’ into surrounding parishes.
The state is spending $30 million on state troopers and National Guard troops in the city, he reminded.
Toomy said crime is “horrendous’’ for residents and visitors alike, noting that at least one trade group recently cited concerns over crime and the city’s recovery in canceling plans to hold a convention in New Orleans while a second group is reportedly considering plans to scrub its New Orleans convention in two years.
Former state Attorney General Richard Ieyoub, who is working with Mayor Ray Nagin to improve the city’s criminal justice system, said the New Orleans Police Department’s pre-Katrina force of 1,700 officers is down to 1,300 today.
Rep. M.J. “Mert’’ Smiley Jr., R-Port Vincent, pointed out that the city’s post-storm population also is down substantially, and that 60 state troopers and 300 guardsmen continue to patrol the city, yet violent crime goes on unabated. He said the city has more law enforcement personnel per capita now than it did before the storm.
“You wonder what these people are actually doing,’’ Smiley said. “I’m just wondering why you need so many people to do the job that was being done before.’’
Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Newell Normand said the opposite is true in Jefferson, where the sheriff’s office is “policing a larger population today’’ with a smaller force of 1,350. That force was 1,650 pre-Katrina.
Normand said the parish’s prison still is not back to its pre-storm staff, which results in jail overcrowding releases — which in turn leads to drug offenders being arrested “over and over and over’’ and also contributes to officers leaving the force. He said the sheriff’s office’s attrition rate is “abysmal.’’
“We’re bailing (water from the boat that is taking on water) as fast as we can. We’re not catching up,’’ he said.
As for New Orleans, Ieyoub said Orleans Parish Criminal Court and Orleans Parish Prison are fully operational and there is a renewed spirit of cooperation between District Attorney Eddie Jordan and Police Superintendent Warren Riley.
“All in all, the criminal justice system in Orleans is better than it was pre-Katrina,’’ he said.
