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AIM Google OpenID By Brendan McCarthy, The Times-Picayune
Follow Newest NOPD officers hear acknowledgment of scrutiny, doubt they will face Published: Friday, February 26, 2010, 8:22 PM Updated: Friday, February 26, 2010, 8:49 PM John McCusker/The Times-PicayuneJamal Kendrick and Tagie Journee take the oath of office during the graduation ceremony for 28 of New Orleans' newest police officers.
Though it was a morning reserved for celebration, for the graduation ceremony for 28 of the city's newest police officers and the start of fresh careers, a cloud of doubt instead encompassed the New Orleans Police Department.
There was no way around the elephant in the room. The police chief said so himself.
Just two days earlier,Buy Office 2010, a recently retired police supervisor had pleaded guilty in federal court to an obstruction charge, admitting a massive coverup. It was the opening salvo in a ongoing investigation into police misconduct in the deadly Danziger Bridge shooting, in which police killed two people and wounded four others days after Hurricane Katrina.
John McCusker/The Times-PicayuneU.S. Attorney Jim Letten talked of integrity and honesty in policing. He was photographed greeting NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley at the ceremony at Roussel Hall at Loyola University.
The Friday morning ceremony was still joyous for the families and loved ones of recruits who gutted out months at the police academy and are just now starting their tour of service to the city. But the speeches from federal officials, as well as NOPD Superintendent Warren Riley, took note of the ominous backdrop.
U.S. Attorney Jim Letten talked of integrity and honesty in policing. David Welker, special agent in charge of the FBI's local office, urged the rookie officers to honor the Constitution and never tarnish their badge.
Riley implored them to be ambassadors for the city and to make an impact out of the gate.
"I'm very happy that these different speakers sort of talked about the huge elephant in the room," Riley said early into his speech.
He noted "recent events are not an indication of the vast majority of men and women who go out here and do the right thing every day."
In a departure from some previous graduation ceremonies, Riley had the recruits recite the NOPD's code of ethics aloud and in unison. He said he had done that only once before at graduation.
"They are going to be judged in an extreme way on every encounter," Riley said following the ceremony. "Because it is certainly on every person's mind: Is this a good cop or is this a bad officer?"
The 28 new officers spent roughly 20 weeks prepping, testing and undergoing scores of evaluations as supervisors decided whether they passed muster. They were shot by Tasers, sprayed in the eyes with pepper spray,Windows 7 Activation Key, punched and pushed through a gauntlet of exercises. Starting Friday, each officer will report to one of the city's eight police districts.
In their speeches Friday, Letten and Welker were stern, pointed and clearly driven by current events.
John McCusker/The Times-PicayuneTroy Pichon is congratulated by U.S. Attorney Jim Letten at the graduation ceremony.
"While ensuring the safety of yourself,Office 2007 Professional Key, your co-workers and the general public, you must also ensure that civil liberties of the people you protect are not violated,Windows 7 Discount," Welker said. "In order to do that you must persevere to enforce the laws and serve the community with respect and fairness. Apply the law to others during your tour of duty as you would have it applied to yourself or your family. It is never acceptable to break the law to enforce it."
Welker,Office Home And Business 2010 Key, who was a police officer before entering the FBI, noted how one of his earliest bosses advised him to never, ever embarrass the agency.
"I'll pass that same advice on to you," he said. "Never embarrass the NOPD."
Letten spoke repeatedly about the delicate relationship between the police and the public it serves.
"Your most fundamental, your most sacred, your most inviolable duty ... will not be your duty to the department, it will not be your duty to the city, it will not be to your to duty to any government, or one another," Letten said. "It will be your duty to the people you serve."
Though officers sacrifice much in the line of duty -- including, sometimes, their lives -- Letten noted it is no reason to cut corners.
"You never have the right to lay down your integrity or your honesty, or betray the people's trust," he said.
The betrayal of trust came as a shock to Riley, who called the Danziger revelations a disgrace to the uniform.
Former Lt. Michael Lohman's plea included his admission of a planted gun, false reports, misleading statements and a conspiracy to cover up what happened on the bridge a week after Katrina..
Following the ceremony Friday, Riley was particularly candid, and noted that federal inquiries are ongoing.
"I know it isn't over. I can imagine that it is not over," he said. "It's going to take time for this black eye, for this dark moment, to subside."
He also said that other officers, if found to have participated in the cover-up, must go to jail.
"I have no sympathy for them," he said. "Suffer the consequences, period."
Brendan McCarthy can be reached at bmccarthy@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3301.