Un-Serpased

There's been some positive, or at least not horrible, news coming out of this week's budget hearings as both Chief Serpas and Sheriff Gusman appear open to reasonable changes that can reduce the costs in grief and funds generated by unnecessary arrests and an out-dated system of paying to house those arrested. See the following Lens articles:

Thousands arrested needlessly on warrants; Serpas makes pledge to end NOPD policy

The New Orleans Police Department arrested 20,000 people needlessly on warrants last year at a cost to taxpayers of almost $2 million, said Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas at a City Council budget hearing this morning.

“To say I was stunned was an understatement,” Serpas said, describing his reaction to the statistics. “To know that we have 20,000 arrests that we didn’t need to do under state law. Certainly I’d like to see that go down by almost 100 percent.”

Most of the arrests were for warrants on relatively minor matters, such as unpaid traffic tickets, Serpas said. Those arrested spent an average of 4.2 days in Sheriff Marlin Gusman’s jail.

In turn, the city paid Gusman $22.39 a day to care for each of those prisoners, many of whom were released after the other parishes declined to come pick them up.

Meanwhile, Gusman says he's willing to consider giving up the per-diem system for pricing his operation.

Gusman open to negotiations about how jail is financed

Sheriff Marlin Gusman would be willing to move away from being paid a daily rate by the city per inmate, he told a City Council budget hearing this afternoon.

New Orleans’ daily rate per inmate originates from a lawsuit filed by the National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union in 1969, on behalf of all prisoners at the Orleans Parish Prison, asking that the city pay the Sheriff’s Office sufficient money to maintain constitutional conditions.

An order establishing the daily rate was added in 1989 and has been amended several times since, most recently in 2003, to the current rate of $22.39 per day.

The ACLU withdrew its name from the lawsuit last year on the grounds that its original intent — to improve jail conditions — had ultimately been turned on its head by the per diem system. They say the arrangement encourages jailing more people, leading to worse conditions.

Later, Gusman said he was going to consult with his legal counsel over this year’s budget.

“We need to have more to properly run the facility,” Gusman said, in answer to a question by Council President Arnie Fielkow about whether the city is in violation of the 2003 legal agreement.

Obviously, Gusman isn't convinced that abandoning the per diem system will translate into overall reduced costs. And he may be correct about that but removing the perverse incentive to incarcerate more people is a step in the right direction either way.

On the other hand, some perverse fetishes for heavy-handed policing die hard.

The department is well placed to focus even more on violent criminals next year, Serpas said. But it should also be able to focus on more community policing, too. Councilwoman Stacy Head had a thought on that front.

“I firmly believe that the murderer also litters,” Head said, encouraging Serpas to get officers to issue summonses to people who toss cigarettes. Serpas agreed.

So be warned. If you aren't up to her fastidious standard of tidiness and personal rectitude (which we have learned by now can be quite harsh), you're practically a murderer in Stacy Head's mind. And Serpas agrees.