2018 Annual Report

FIGURE 8: COMPLAINT DISPOSITION BY SOURCE

Complaint Analysis

The largest grouping was of “sustained” complaints at 29.3%. This is almost the identical rate from 2017 (29.2%).

While 14.6% of public complaints are sustained (15.6% in 2017), 53.7% of rank complaints are sustained (50.7% in 2017), this is more than three times the rate of public complaints. In New Orleans, the public initiates roughly 1.7 times the number of complaints than does rank. In police departments across the US, public complaints often represent the majority of complaints but are the least often sustained.

There are different conclusions that can be drawn from this trend. A rank-initiated complaint may and often does originate from misconduct observed by a supervisor during a public interaction. At this time, the data does not capture when a rank-initiated complaint originates from an observed act of misconduct during an interaction with a member of the public.

There is an argument that the number of sustained rank-initiated complaints is growing because there is an increase of supervisor-based accountability. This means that rank is required under the Federal Consent Decree to review officer action within the community, identify misconduct in those interactions, and then initiate discipline against officers. When rank-initiates a complaint, limited investigation is required because a supervisor observed the misconduct as it occurred or during his or her review the officer’s Body Worn Camera.

FIGURE 9: ALL COMPLAINTS BY OUTCOME

FIGURE 10: RANK COMPLAINTS BY OUTCOME

FIGURE 11: PUBLIC COMPLAINTS BY OUTCOME

FIGURE 12: COMPLAINT OUTCOMES BY OFFICER RACE

According to NOPD data (please refer to annual-report-2018.nola.ipm.gov), sustained complaints appear to be consistent with officer race demographics. Officers classified as African American / Black have a higher rate of participation in mediation. The OIPM cannot draw a definitive conclusion from this data but the OIPM and NOPD would like to explore this trend in future reports.