Full article: https://eyeonsurveillance.org/blog/ponzi-police-reform

PONZI POLICE REFORM IN NEW ORLEANS

Federal police oversight in New Orleans is being run by officials who have significant conflicts of interest, and now it's being exported to Minneapolis police reform efforts. David L. Douglass, the Deputy Monitor, is currently paid by the city of New Orleans to oversee the consent decree under the direction of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). He founded Effective Law Enforcement for All (ELEFA), and ALSO currently serves as the Co-Lead Evaluator in Minneapolis to oversee the settlement agreement under the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR), where he added several former and current NOPD leaders to his payroll - the very people he used to and currently oversees.

Additionally, Jonathan Aronie, the Primary Monitor for the consent decree for the city of New Orleans, is also engaging in glaring conflicts of interest through the hiring of former NOPD as leadership in his organization Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement Project (ABLE). This is in direct violation of paragraph 464 of the New Orleans consent decree.

Ashley Burns, former co-founder of ELEFA and member of the monitoring team in New Orleans, also called out Douglass at a New Orleans public hearing stating: "there is in fact a great, great conflict of interest, among other ethical and integrity issues". Ashley Burns ended her revealing statement by saying to Douglass:

"You know you don't give a damn about Minneapolis or the people of New Orleans"

THE NOLA & MINNEAPOLIS CONNECTION

Since 2013, New Orleans consent decree compliance has been riddled with conflicts of interests, inept community input, ambiguous data, and back sliding. Read here for details. Yet, ELEFA's Minneapolis contract was directly tied to perceived success in New Orleans. Douglass' ability to be an impartial monitor creates a conflict. He cannot be critical of lack of compliance in New Orleans without putting blame on himself or one of his current colleagues. A ruling of compliance by Judge Morgan would sweep under the rug the entangled conflicts causing REAL HARM to New Orleans and set a HORRIBLE PRECEDENT for Minneapolis and elsewhere.

New Orleans’s past is now becoming prologue for Minneapolis after only 8 months with ELEFA. In New Orleans, the Police Community Advisory Boards (PCABs) “have been exploited and ignored” (pages 7&8 of 182). “Efforts toward community engagement have felt half-baked,” and ELEFA has “allowed community engagement to collapse entirely." In Minneapolis, ELEFA held “Public Information Sessions” but its press release stated the two events “will not be for public input,” and ELEFA ignored the Mpls Community Commission On Police Oversight, as if its role in police misconduct cases and reforms is completely insignificant. Read here for more problems.

Minneapolis finally has a tentative agreement for its consent decree. There’s a clause in the MDHR settlement agreement that if a different entity is chosen to monitor the federal consent decree then ELEFA can be “terminated” (paragraph #396) from the state settlement agreement. This may be the ONLY opportunity for community members to be able to validate their concerns with ELEFA upfront and demand a truly effective independent monitor.

Help shed light on this issue and demand that the Department of Justice (DOJ), New Orleans, and Minneapolis stop wasting our taxpayer money on Ponzi police reform.

Fill out the form, or write your representatives directly:

DEMANDS

1. The DOJ must conduct an investigation into all DOJ, NOPD, and Minneapolis employees that are now affiliated with ELEFA.

2. IF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST ARE FOUND NEW MONITORS IN NEW ORLEANS AND MINNEAPOLIS MUST BE SELECTED WHO ARE TRULY INDEPENDENT AND EFFECTIVE.

DOJ Minneapolis

DOJ New Orleans

Louisiana

Minneapolis