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Missing the Target
June 13, 2007
The Times-Picayune
Editorial
It's been almost five months since New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley vowed to concentrate on pursuing violent criminals. And three months have passed since he and Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan launched a joint plan also aiming at violent felons.
But a Metropolitan Crime Commission analysis of arrests and prosecutions reveals both officials continue to largely miss the target.
Half the arrests and more than half the prosecutions in the first quarter of the year were for traffic and municipal violations -- mostly misdemeanors -- according to the report. Crime Commission officials say arrest figures for April and May showed the same pattern.
It's baffling that police and prosecutors continue to get distracted by minor violations when they are struggling to corral and convict murderers and other violent criminals. Police are arresting more people per-capita than before Katrina. Yet the city's murder rate has shot up compared to pre-storm figures.
The justice system should not ignore traffic violations and misdemeanors. But the emphasis on minor violators is particularly troubling as both Superintendent Riley and Mr. Jordan have often lamented that Katrina left them with limited personnel and resources.
It also seems to run counter to efforts to improve community policing and witness cooperation. Polls have shown many residents already mistrust the police. A force this arrest-happy when it comes to relatively small stuff is unlikely to change that perception. The negative experiences of people arrested unnecessarily in those cases actually may be poisoning the jury pool.
There is, unfortunately, financial pressure to arrest people for traffic and municipal violations. They yield substantial revenues for several entities in the justice system, especially the courts. But stopping violent crime -- not making money -- should be the main goal.
To that end, judges should issue a second summons and tack on more fines when minor violators miss a first appearance in court, instead of ordering an arrest. That would encourage many offenders to pay their fines while easing the pressure on the police.
But arrest warrants are not the whole story. Two-thirds of the 7,585 arrests for traffic and misdemeanor violations in the first quarter were at the discretion of officers, not because a warrant or the law required them. Superintendent Riley should encourage officers to issue citations and tickets in many of those cases.
The Crime Commission report notes some improvement in the district attorney's office, which is now choosing to press charges in half the violent felony cases it receives from police -- an acceptance rate that surpasses the 37 percent rate before Katrina.
That still leaves Mr. Jordan declining to prosecute half of the people arrested for the gravest felonies, and his office needs to work harder to close that gap.
Both the police and the district attorney also need to continue to improve their cooperation. Their 3-month-old joint effort has begun lowering the number of people automatically released from jail when no charges are filed within the 60-day legal limit.
But to achieve better results, both officials must make good on a promise to staff prosecutors in all police districts to better build cases. Federal funding for that effort was included in the recovery package recently approved by Congress, and both Mr. Jordan and Superintendent Riley need to launch the plan as soon as the money gets down here.
The Crime Commission is promising to continue to monitor the performance of the police and the district attorney's office, beginning with an analysis of second quarter figures to be released next month. That is welcome. The public needs to be able to properly evaluate the justice system, and its leaders need to show progress.
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