The New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) is under the scanner after a report divulges that it failed to investigate nearly 1,111 cases pertaining to child abuse and sex crimes. Appallingly, one of the detectives who was overseeing a case stated that "simple rape" should not be considered a crime.
The 7-page report has been prepared by Inspector General Edouard R. Quatrevaux and was released on Wednesday, Nov. 12. The report examines the work of five NOPD detectives who were assigned to investigate sex crimes over a three-year period i.e. from January 2011 to December 2013.
According to the findings of the Public Integrity Bureau (PIB), of the 1290 "calls for service" made, the detectives in question only followed up 14 percent of the crimes. Around 840 crimes were labeled "miscellaneous" or "Signal 21" with no reports being written for the same.
The carelessly lazy attitude of the NOPD over the three-year period is further reflected by the fact that of the 450 initial reports that were created by all five detectives, supplementary documentation was available only for 179 with the remaining 60 percent having either questionable documents or no documentation.
Alarmingly, the report also sheds light on the callousness of the NOPD as some of the reports pertaining to potential child abuse and rapes were pushed to the backburner on flimsy grounds and remained uninvestigated.
The report cites the example of a case where a juvenile girl who was under 3 years was brought to the emergency room of a hospital post a suspected sexual assault. The tests revealed that the infant has a sexually transmitted disease. However, the "Detective A" in question bypassed the investigation under the pretext that the toddler "did not disclose any information that would warrant a criminal investigation and closed the case."
Another investigation by "Detective D" was under the scanner where the victim underwent examination by a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) for rape. The DNA evidence was collected in a sexual assault kit by the nurse who revealed that the victim complained of threatening messages from her assailant. Not only did Detective D fail to obtain the text or phone records, he also chose not to submit the kit to the lab for investigation. The reason for not submitting the kit to the lab? Detective D says in the log book that the submission was not made "because the sex was consensual."
Moreover, the "seasoned" detective, whose identity is not being revealed due to investigations that are ongoing, revealed to three people that he/she "did not believe that simple rape should be a crime."
The five detectives have been moved to patrol duty and are being investigated. Two supervisors who administered the detectives in question have also been transferred.
