Greener pastures

[John Marie]

For those of you who are fed up and frustrated with NOPD, the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff's Office is looking to fill several vacancies. While our pay scale is below NOPD's, the benefit package is totally paid for by the Sheriff. ( Health insurance, life insurance, retirement) Comfortable tactical uniforms and weapons are supplied by the department and every deputy receives a take home car. Additionally, there is no residency requirement. Your take home pay will be roughly the same as you are currently receiving from NOPD. Our crime rate is the lowest in Louisiana, so if you are looking for a lot of action, I recommend that you stay with NOPD. We have 2 Judges down here who do not tolerate crime and a DA who is not afraid to try a case. One final thing, Sheriff Jiff Hingle is probably the most intelligent person that I have ever worked for, as I served under 5 mayors and 8 Superintendents with NOPD. He's the type of Sheriff who stands up for his employees and goes out of his way to assist them in any way possible. Shortly after Katrina and Rita destroyed half of Plaquemines, Sheriff Hingle in addition to personally leading search and rescue efforts was securing overtime funding, supplies, equipment and housing for every deputy afftected by the storms. 3 weeks ago, we finally closed our 24 hour kitchen, which fed our deputies after the storms. Our FEMA overtime is supposed to stop effective Aug. 31, however the Sheriff is making frequent trips to Washington to lobby Congress for additional assistance and has retained one of Washington's most powerful lobby groups to represent us on Capitol Hill. NOPD should have had unlimited overtime since the storm and replaced all lost equipment, but apparently someone did not know how to apply for it and dropped the ball. I would be remiss not to state, that Sheriff Hingle stands up for his employees and commands the respect of all who serve for him. If anyone is interested, they can either contact me or Col. Charles Guey at 297-5120.

[John Marie]

While I feel somewhat bad recruting on the PANO forum, I have already snagged 2 good ones. During my interviews, I thought that I knew most of the problems that the men and women within NOPD experience. Some of the things that these applicants told me, almost knocked me out of my chair. Both are/were district guys. More than ever, the PANO board needs to bring the problems to the public. PANO needs to lead the way and work with the local and national media to ensure that the positive image of NOPD is restored. I honestly do not think that the image of NOPD will be improved by any politician or civilian and former sports information officer. The average citizen needs to know that the majority of NOPD personnel are good, hardworking cops who need public support to keep the citizens safe. Today's Picayune is a fine example of NOPD not getting fair press. Last night's incident with the Picayune photographer highlighted the fact that the photographer suffered form Post-Katrina syndrome, which has efffected citizens and police officers. What seemed not to be so important was the fact that an officer was injured approaching the incident in a professional manner and that a taser was used. They sure wanted to crucify the police on the St. Charles and Jackson incident several months back because the police didn't try and use a taser. If Public Affairs can't do the job, then it's up to PANO and as long as Mike represents the membership, the worse they can do is shuffle him around. As you know, I've been there, done that, and all it did was make me stronger. Sorry I couldn't make the meeting last night, the Sheriff is out of town and I'm handling the headaches.
Anyway, I'm still looking for a few good cops. Life is good down here. Look forward to seeing many friends tonight at the Emerald Society meeting. Good luck NOPD.

[Billy]

John.. you have to stop stealing !!

:)

[Mike Glasser]

John,
I have been out of town all week, and heard about the T-P photographer but had no access to the news, so I missed the actual reporting.
With respect to the media, we all know that the proper handling of an incident by NOPD is simply not considered newsworthy. The MIS-handling by an NOPD police officer, on the other hand, is now National News fodder. Cases in point:
The St. Charles & Jackson shooting you mentioned, which, by the way, was my crew and my scene, when it became apparent that there was no "case" of police misconduct to be made, the media quickly lost interest. After a brief stint on national newscasts, the issue faded from public interest, except for some taser-related questions. But when the State Police in New Orleans used a taser & the person died, no one ever raised even a question. The NOPD is clearly the agency everyone loves to hate.
You are right about our image & what is needed. Last month I went on five separate televised news interviews relative to our pay issues, radio & vest needs, and general morale. We all know that New Orleans is a marvelous environment for coincidence, but right after, vests were donated, a pay raise was announced & radio upgrades were unveiled. Is this the end of our problems? Of course not. But it is a good start. I'd like to point out that the media aside, it was the public that donated the vests and the it will be the City Council that will actually give us the raise. We are getting some support from the public.
PANO is also working to help our image within the Criminal Justice System as well, by sponsoring & hosting training for all NOPD officers beginning August 21. An Officer Safety course is almost ready as well. In addition, some much needed Overtime issues were recently resolved with the City Administration's cooperation with PANO. That cooperation was a refreshing departure from the continuously adversarial relationship we have historically had. There will continue to be issues that must be legally contested and we will certainly do that as well.
You can be sure that PANO is working on a variety of improvement issues & that Image is one of them. But in addition to just improving our image, we will be working on improving US as well. Good luck to those who seek greener pastures, but remember, the grass always looks greener...