Tag Archive

Tensions rise between street musicians and the NOPD in the French Quarter

By Brian Denzer

Post revised on 6/18/2010 to include the full statement by Chief Serpas, a statement issued by Mayor Landrieu and Councilmember Kristen Gisleson-Palmer, and a Gambit blog story about a protest in Jackson Square led by musician Glen David Andrews.
Don’t Stop the Music. Let New Orleans Street Musicians Play is a newly-formed advocacy effort to support… »

Victory

By Brian Denzer

More than three years ago, Citizen Crime Watch was created to advocate for improved public access to 911 calls for service crime data. With heightened public concerns about rising crime after Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Police Department was doing a poor job of keeping the public informed about shifting patterns of crime. The calls… »

Questions & answers about the NOPD COMSTAT process

By Brian Denzer

What is the New Orleans Police Department’s COMSTAT process? What should we know about it, and how should we evaluate it?
These are questions that remain unanswered by a story printed in today’s Times-Picayune.
One concern is that the process creates internal competitive pressures that can tend toward corruption of statistics.
But COMSTAT also has its share of… »

Cooking the books? Or just sloppy journalism?

By Brian Denzer

I don’t wish to be placed in the position of being an apologist for any public official’s misdeeds. On the other hand, sloppy journalism is equally intolerable.
Consider a Tennessee TV news report that slanted its story to make Ronal Serpas look like he was cooking the books on Nashville crime statistics. Fundamentally lacking from that… »

Serpas sounding like a NolaStat supporter

By Brian Denzer

In an address delivered at his swearing in ceremony on Tuesday, newly-appointed New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Ronal Serpas sounded as though he’d practically lifted language off the pages of Citizen Crime Watch and NolaStat.
I was particularly surprised to read that Serpas was going to partner with educational institutions. A key focus of the Citizen… »

More agile human resources management needed to reform civil service

By Brian Denzer

The civil service system used in New Orleans city government is decades behind the times, and is in desperate need of an overhaul, according to a report prepared by the George Bush School of Government & Public Service for the Business Council of New Orleans.
That conclusion should come as no surprise to anyone in New… »

Ronal Serpas is an excellent choice for NOPD police chief

By Brian Denzer

As a civilian tech who supported the New Orleans Police Department COMSTAT process during the reform period of Superintendent Richard Pennington, I experienced firsthand the leadership exhibited by Ronal Serpas on a weekly basis for three years. While Pennington was setting the high-overview priorities to reform the NOPD (in partnership with federal authorities and change… »


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