New Orleans, Louisiana - NOPD Subjects Officers To Integrity Checks
03/30/07, from WDSU TheNewOrleansChannel.com.
NOPD Subjects Officers To Integrity Checks
During the fever pitch of Mardi Gras, as New Orleans police officers watched the crowds, another arm of the department was watching the officers: The Public Integrity Bureau was setting up stings that only a dishonest cop would fall for.
"During Mardi Gras, we ran 101 integrity checks, and some of those things go from giving an officer a wallet full of money, sending them to a scene where you have a house with drugs in it and money, weapons -- and we're very happy to say during Mardi Gras, every officer did in fact pass these integrity checks," Police Superintendent Warren Riley said. He told WDSU NewsChannel 6 that another officer was targeted in the French Quarter just before Mardi Gras.
"We had information that Hispanic males were being robbed or money taken from them, and we ran an integrity check on an officer four times," Riley said. "The first three times he didn't do anything. On the fourth time, he in fact took half that person's money. He was booked and terminated."
According to the chief, integrity checks are intense, with some officers being checked as many as six times a month. Those who pass get a letter of congratulations; those who do not get fired.
"It only takes a handful to ruin this department. One of the things I want more than anything is for the public to have confidence in this police department," Riley said.
Retrieved March 30, 2007 from http://news.yahoo.com/s/wdsu/20070330/lo_wdsu/11442122&printer=1;_ylt=Am9JHL71vnamjYT4sNYR1m5F7xsC