The NY Puke says something intelligent for once

The New York Times for once says something intelligent in its Iditorial Pages....

A New Chance in New Orleans

The Justice Department described the New Orleans Police Department earlier this year as one of the nation’s worst. There is no doubt about that. The city suffers from one of the country’s highest rates of violent crime and unsolved murders. Its police force is currently the subject of at least eight federal investigations into accusations of brutality and unjustified killings of citizens at the hands of armed officers.

This week, city and federal officials took a big step toward resolving those problems. At the request of Mitch Landrieu, the new mayor of New Orleans, the Justice Department will conduct a full review of the police department. That will likely lead to a consent decree, a legally binding agreement between the city and the Justice Department on steps to reform the force.

Congress gave the Justice Department the authority in 1994 to restructure troubled police departments. Since then, the Civil Rights Division has reached agreement with 16 departments — including Pittsburgh, Detroit and the District of Columbia — to address problems in the use of force, racial discrimination or other misconduct. Last year, a federal judge released the Los Angeles Police Department from a consent decree after it made progress in reducing racial profiling and corruption.

The previous mayor of New Orleans, C. Ray Nagin, repeatedly denied that the department had systemic problems and insisted that the city could clean things up on its own. He failed, utterly, to do that. Mr. Landrieu invited federal intervention on his second day in office, an act of political courage even if it was a few steps ahead of a court order.

Mayor Landrieu called for a “complete transformation” of the department. It will take a lot of work to make that happen. Four former police officers already have pleaded guilty in connection with the shootings of six unarmed residents on the Danziger Bridge in the days after Hurricane Katrina. The cover-up that followed suggests that the incident may be the tip of a horrific iceberg. Changing this culture may take years, but the city has now begun the process.

I rarely agree with the NY Pravda but one thing is definately on target with this. The previous mayor, Ray Nagin, wouldn't even say there were major problems in his department. I'll commend Landrieu for at least moving in the right direction.