A report last year to New Orleans police superintendent Eddie Compass sought to detail a widespread conspiracy in the police force. The New Orleans Times-Picayune says investigators alleged that a commander and his top aides had systematically downgraded crime reports, producing a false picture of successful, aggressive policing, and in the process repeatedly won the department’s coveted crime reduction award. Now a proceeding against the accused offers is stalled after only two weeks of testimony and may be foundering.
Officer after officer, from patrolman to detective, told investigators they never were ordered to make narrative changes or include false information in any report. If detectives were given orders to change statistics “with a specific intention to mislead and deceive,” that “may indeed rise to a level of malfeasance or perhaps some other crime,” said city attorney Patrick Bossetta. “At this juncture, these are not the facts. Therefore, my recommendation is to proceed with an administrative investigation only.”
Link: http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1103439671300310.xml