By Deon Roberts, Online Editor
When the University of New Orleans released a quality of life study this week focusing on Jefferson and Orleans parishes, residents said crime is the biggest problem.
Residents count on police to stamp out crime, especially murders and other violent crime.
But is the NOPD spending its time and resources wisely these days?
A CityBusiness investigation by reporter Richard Webster found that NOPD is planting Kool cigarettes, Budweiser and Boston Baked Beans candy in unlocked cars with the windows rolled down in order to catch someone snatching the items.
The police seem to be after a certain group: the homeless. Why else would they park a car just one block from a homeless encampment under the Claiborne Overpass?
NOPD made its first arrests June 10. For stealing less than $6 in items, police charged two homeless men with simple burglary, a felony that can carry up to 12 years in prison. Neither suspect had any prior arrests in Orleans Parish.
It’s been more than a month since their arrests and the men are still sitting in Orleans Parish Prison, waiting on court dates, according to the story.
NOPD’s technique is garnering criticism.
“I don’t know what the policing justification is for such an action,” said Pamela Metzger, associate professor of law at Tulane University Law School. “But on a fundamental human level, it smacks of a meanness, a pettiness, a spitefulness that has no place in a city as broken as this one. It’s a way of manufacturing offenses that may not have otherwise existed.”
The NOPD did not respond to our reporter’s requests for comment. But, according to the story, Police Superintendent Warren Riley has previously defended the practice of arresting people for minor crimes as a useful way of catching habitual offenders.
Is this a good use of police resources, or do you think the police should be paying more attention to violent crime?
To read the full story, click here.
4 responses so far ↓
Brad // Friday, July 11, 2008 at 2:30 pm |
Thanks to City Business for calling to attention this untenable and immoral practice by the NOPD. Their stance mirrors the overall message to the poor and working people of New Orleans that they are not welcome back home — since many of the homeless were residents who lost their homes following Hurricane Katrina.
Wendy King // Friday, July 11, 2008 at 2:52 pm |
There’s no proof that arresting homeless people on false charges, after baiting an “abandoned car” with Kool cigarettes, a can of beer, and a can of baked beans, will pull in the “bigger fish” Chief Riley and the NOPD are trying to get, whether those bigger fish are drug dealers, burglars, murderers, or other criminals. What the NOPD has just done has a term: entrapment. Those homeless people caught with this technique should be released from jail, and the charges against them dropped. Chief Riley and the NOPD should be held fully accountable for using this technique against people whose only “crime” is being homeless and living in the tent city under the S.Claiborne overpass. Our city’s budget is already stretched thin. Baiting a car and arresting these homeless people who found it was an enormous waste of police personnel, time, and money. Those resources need to be redirected towards tracking down those who are breaking into homes and businesses, stealing cars, and killing or injuring our city’s residents. None of the latter are going to come up to a car baited with Kool cigarettes, beer, and a can of baked beans, and see if they can steal those items. Those criminals are after much bigger, and more valuable, commodities: people’s property, homes, businesses, lives, and, most importantly, peace of mind.
nolawave // Friday, July 11, 2008 at 4:19 pm |
Why is this a bad thing? These people are breaking the law and should go to jail. I don’t care for how long. If they are willing to break into a car then waht is to stop them from breaking into my car, then house, then holding someone up at gun point. It is time for people to start taking responsibilities for their actions. It is bad enough that the homeless makes are city look terrible, now I am supposed to feel sorry for them because they steal? Congrats to the NOPD for finding a creative way to deal with this problem!
Kris // Monday, July 14, 2008 at 8:01 am |
I say do it more often and in more locations. Finally, NOPD is doing something positive for a change and I say “good job”!