Our Beat: Six ways the NOPD is modernizing policing for the 21st century

By: Tyler Gamble
August 22, 2016

In 2010, Mayor Mitch Landrieu invited the DOJ into New Orleans to partner in reforming and strengthening the New Orleans Police Department. Five years later, the department is well on its way to complying with a federal consent decree that is serving as a blueprint for building a world-class police department that protects and serves its community. In fact, the NOPD is leading the country in many areas of police reform, including transparency, independent investigations of police misconduct, new technology and community policing.

Here are six ways the NOPD is modernizing policing for the 21st century and serving as an example for other police departments to follow: 

1. Comprehensive Body Worn Camera Program
   NOPD launched one of the nation’s largest body worn camera programs in the country in 2014 and now has more than 800 cameras for a force of fewer than 1200 officers. Program statistics indicate that officers are consistently using the cameras in 99% of all incidents and these videos are being used to assist with criminal investigations as well as internal investigations.
   
   
2. Independent Investigations into Uses of Force
   FBI agents are assigned full-time to NOPD to partner with NOPD officers on all investigations of serious uses of force by police officers. This unique partnership allows for transparent and accountable investigations and increases community trust in the investigative process. 
   
   
3. Groundbreaking Transparency and Accountability
   NOPD was one of the first major police departments to release all of its calls for service data online in 2011, and since then the department has built upon that commitment to transparency by releasing new data sets on stops and searches, arrests, and uses of force. These investments in transparency have not only helped to build community trust but also led to organizations like the Sunlight Foundation recognizing NOPD as a national leader in the open data movement.
   
   
4. Early Intervention: The Future of Personnel Management
   This fall, NOPD will launch a sophisticated new personnel management tool aimed at helping supervisors intervene and support officers before they exhibit problematic behavior. This new system named INSIGHT is one of the only data systems of its kind in the country and with a price tag of more than $4 million is the largest single technology investment that NOPD has made in its 200 year history.
   
   
5. EPIC: Leveraging Peer Intervention
   NOPD recently launched one of the first peer intervention programs in the nation. This program, called EPIC or Ethical Policing is Courageous, empowers officers on the streets to intervene when they see a colleague doing something wrong or unethical.
   
   
6. Training Officers to Deal with Individuals in Crisis
   Police interactions with individuals in crisis due to mental illnesses or behavior disorders can be uniquely dangerous situations for both officers and citizens. NOPD has worked with community mental health providers to teach officers in how to best interact with such individuals and has trained 20% of its patrol officers in this specialized Crisis Intervention Training.

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