Friday, August 13, 2010
Law and Order Top Cop Gets Top Billing: Serpas Guest Stars as Reformer on CNN
Posted by Tracy Moore on Fri, Aug 13, 2010 at 10:13 AM
Our boy former Chief of Police Ronal Serpas is already getting attention in his new role. As you recall, Serpas split town back in May to return to his old stomping grounds in New Orleans, and he's already on CNN for his part in the plans to reform the Big Easy's notoriously corrupt police department. Currently, said this morning's broadcast, some 16 officers are under investigation for corruption in post-Katrina incidents ranging from shooting unarmed residents to making up witnesses. (Here's a recent piece on NPR about the efforts to "right the ship," which says there are 18 officers under investigation.)
Landrieu, who took a break from pounding the airwaves for BP money to promote tourism, is shown this morning in a video pounding the pavement to talk to poor and crime-ridden neighborhoods in a show of police presence and commitment to reform. Serpas is by his side, visible proof of the sort of house-cleaning that starts with regime change. Oddly, there was no mention of his recent work lowering crime in Nashville as police chief, the accusations of fudged crime stats and controversies over the "handling" of domestic violence cases, or his long history aiding in reform in New Orleans the first time around as assistant chief under superintendent Richard Pennington.
Or that many of the very strides made by the police department in New Orleans when Serpas was on board then were quickly undone — making this a kind of Groundhog Day of police work for him. "Hopefully, this one'll work out," the anchorperson said.
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