Sex crimes unit of NOPD
deemed deeply flawed
by Justice Department
Published: Thursday, March 17, 2011, 10:45 PM
New Orleans police officers seldom sought to interrogate rape suspects, while they sometimes peppered victims with biased questions suggesting they were to blame for their attacks, according to a review of sexual-assault complaints by the U.S. Department of Justice.
John McCusker, The Times-Picayune
The NOPD's sex-crimes unit has been under scrutiny for years, with critics saying many legitimate complaints have not been fully investigated.
Last year, not long after he was appointed, Superintendent Ronal Serpas replaced the leader of the unit and ordered an audit of complaints that had been labeled "miscellaneous incidents" by detectives. Following the audit, NOPD officials reclassified dozens of them, saying they would be investigated as sex crimes.
The report took care to emphasize that policy changes are under way at the NOPD, particularly in the sex crimes unit.
Still, the Justice Department review suggests the unit's deficiencies are deep. In many cases, detectives conducted victim interviews with the seeming aim of categorizing the allegations as false, according to the review. The report suggests many more complaints might need to be reinvestigated.
Until recently, the NOPD had an "unofficial" policy of not interviewing sexual assault suspects, even if the suspect was identified by a victim, which meant cases were built almost exclusively around the victim's testimony. However, the new commander of the unit has changed this de facto policy -- which is not typical of American police departments -- and he has purchased video equipment for an interrogation room.
The agency also found shortcomings with the NOPD's investigations into domestic violence, which, like sexual assault, is most often committed against women. Problems with the units that deal with both crimes are the basis for the Justice Department's findings that the NOPD violates the constitutional rights of women by not properly investigating allegations of violence against them.
The authors found disconcerting patterns in a series of sexual assault complaints categorized as "Signal 21s," or "miscellaneous incidents." Detectives often emphasized inconsistent statements by victims or gaps in memory, while expressing doubt about their credibility or motives for fabricating an attack, the report said. Detectives seemed to believe many stereotypes about how victims of sexual assault behave.
For their part, victims described their interviews with detectives as making them less likely to cooperate with a police investigation, often a factor when the NOPD files a complaint as a "Signal 21." In many cases, the sex crimes unit actually asks victims to fill out a form stating that they don't want to proceed with the case.
"In short, our review of Signal 21 reports found that NOPD routinely asks questions that are likely to heighten many victims' feelings of shame and self-blame, fear of not being believed, and lack of confidence in the criminal justice system," the report found. "Such interview tactics, particularly at the critical initial stage of a sexual assault investigation, may well intensify a victim's reluctance to cooperate with an investigation or prosecution."
The report also found fault with NOPD report writing, saying detectives need to better capture how victims describe their assaults. Patrol officers who are the first to respond to a crime also need to write reports about what they discover, something that doesn't happen with sexual assaults but is common practice in other cases, the report stated.
Detectives often are misinformed about the utility of sexual-assault exams, sometimes telling victims who delay coming forward not to bother being checked. But national standards show that such exams can sometimes yield forensic evidence even four days after an assault, the report stated.
While the report didn't find the same magnitude of problems in the domestic violence unit, the Justice Department did flag that unit as well, saying it has too few investigators to deal with its caseload. The lack of staffing -- just three detectives are assigned to the unit -- means investigators too often don't interview witnesses, according to the report.
Laura Maggi can be reached at lmaggi@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3316.
