The devil is in the details

Mike Glasser, President of the Police Association of New Orleans (PANO)

The paid detail system in New Orleans is undergoing a complete reorganization. The move was prompted by years of misinformation and mischaracterization that the system suffered from “an aorta of corruption” and that it “tears at the fabric of the New Orleans Police Dept.”

Today some of the harshest critics are saying that the problems were “exaggerated” but this is too little too late.

“Based on a misinformation campaign, the overhaul is now written into the Federal Consent Decree,” noted the president of the Police Association of New Orleans (PANO), Mike Glasser. “This whole thing reminds me of tactics used by Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s minister of propoganda. One of his more memorable quotes was, ‘It would not be impossible, with sufficient repetition and psychological understanding of the people concerned, to convince them that a square is, in fact, a circle.’ Simply put, if you know your audience, and you repeat a lie often enough, they will believe it. The DOJ, the mayor, the superintendent, and all the kings horses and all the kings men said details were corrupt over and over again until everyone believed it.”

When the decision came down to overhaul the paid detail system and put it under the control of the Office of Police Secondary Employment (OPSE), Glasser said his members discussed a boycott of some of the city’s high profile events like the French Quarter Fest and Jazz Fest.

“While that seemed like a good idea at the time,” Glasser continued, “then we had the tragic bombing at the Boston Marathon. And as we always do, we put our own issues aside and focused on the safety of the public. We felt it was important to assure them they could attend every New Orleans event with confidence and safety.

PANO filed a petition with Civil Service, declaring the creation of pay scales and the administration of paid details by the Office of Police Secondary Employment as unconstitutional and discriminatory. As the first court of record, the petition had to start with Civil Service. But this is just the beginning. It will likely end up in Civil District Court or the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

“We understand that the OPSE will coordinate New Orleans P.D. paid details,” Glasser explains. “Our goal is to ensure that it is done legally and correctly. Right now the city is arguing that paid detail officers are off-duty are considered New Orleans P.D. employees. The bottom line here is that detail pay is not subject to Civil Service rules and that’s a problem.”

“So even though our officers will wear the NOPD uniform, use NOPD equipment, at a detail solicited, brokered, coordinated, scheduled, and paid by the city, and that every rule of the NOPD must be followed, you are not considered an employee of the city when working a detail. PANO Attorney Eric Hessler likes to say, “they march a cat into the room and try to convince you it’s a dog.”

In September the Civil Service Commission heard arguments by PANO and FOP attorneys regarding constitutionality issues and Social Security and tax issues as it relates to detail pay as well as discrimination with respect to detail assignments. Fortunately the cogent arguments presented by both PANO and FOP convinced the Civil Service Commission of the need to investigate further.