The New Orleans Police Department has been under a federal consent decree for approximately twelve years and one of the fundamental elements required is the completion of fair, impartial, and accurate investigations. The Public Integrity Bureau is charged with handling all investigative matters related to policy violations or wrongdoings by all NOPD employees. The department has identified areas of improvement that may be required to address allegation driven complaints of executive or command level personnel. In the past complaints for executive level employees referred to external entities such as OIG, LSP or Homeland Security. However, due to staffing challenges experienced by most agencies currently, NOPD can no longer rely on the possibility of agencies electing to voluntarily accept the request to handle the complaints. The department is in dire need of asserting consistency and continuity when complaints are initiated for executive or command level personnel. In doing so, the department is also bound by the Police Officers’ Bill of Rights to complete all investigations within 135 days of allegations being initiated.
