New Orleans Police Department officers stand at attention. Image courtesy of NOPD. What she found surprised her. But the statistics did lead her to ask more questions.
In , the year the department first entered the consent decree , an all-encompassing reform agreement the city made with the U. By last year, with rape cases reported and 46 cases cleared, the rate had sunk to 6. Half of the 12 detective positions in the sex crimes unit are vacant, according to Ford. In , Ford met civil rights attorney Mary Howell through a mutual friend. She began working with Ford to put her research in front of elected officials, federal court monitors and other institutions.
She and Howell want the NOPD to take a deeper look at staffing and other issues in the Special Victims Section, improve its data reporting and transparency measures, put existing reforms the department has made in writing and bring in an outside expert to evaluate the unit.
A report by a mayoral committee found that victims were reporting cases to NOPD at much higher rates, demonstrating increased trust in the department.
Though declining clearance rates could have once been attributed to improved reporting and classification of cases under the consent decree, that rates are still going down β instead of leveling out β is cause for concern, Ford said. And last year, the city had the highest rate of reported rapes per capita compared to those other agencies.
