NEW ORLEANS – The City of New Orleans released the Office of Police Secondary Employment’s Annual Report on Friday, November 13, 2015, covering September 2014 through August 2015.
This annual report satisfies specific requirements of the New Orleans Police Department’s federal consent decree and offers a transparent overview of how the reforms to the police secondary employment system are progressing.
“Upon taking office in May 2010, I committed to the residents of New Orleans that we would improve the NOPD’s paid detail system,” Mayor Landrieu said. “With the establishment the Office of Police Secondary Employment, we have removed the administrative burden of individual NOPD officers administering paid details and by centralizing the process, we have added transparency, efficiency and fairness to the system. These reforms have taken root, allowing our NOPD officers to stay focused on fighting crime and keeping us safe while preserving the opportunity to earn more.”
Created by Mayor Mitch Landrieu in 2012 and mandated by the NOPD’s federal consent decree, the Office of Police Secondary Employment (OPSE) coordinates all police secondary employment opportunities (i.e. “police details”) that are paid on an hourly basis. This includes general security, neighborhood patrols, school traffic management, special events, private events and street closures. Under this new, independent office, oversight has been centralized and responsibility for all aspects of police secondary employment has shifted from the individual officer to OPSE. Now, all initial contracting of work, joint planning to meet customer needs, scheduling of officers and supervisors, payment and accounting for work, and customer feedback is executed and managed by the OPSE, freeing NOPD officers of this administrative task.
While the Office of Police Secondary Employment’s Annual Report (Sept. 2014 – Aug. 2015) does not match the City’s fiscal or calendar years, the twelve months covered represent a complete operational year of implementation of these reforms.
This annual report reviews major events leading up to the present with regard to the reform of secondary employment in the NOPD; gives an overview of the major process changes; looks at progress made thus far in implementing the changes to police detail management required by NOPD’s federal consent decree; reviews how OPSE serves officers, customers and the citizens of New Orleans; provides a financial overview of the office; and offers a look to the future as the OPSE works with citizens, stakeholders, the US Department of Justice and the United States District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana to make these reforms work and last.
Deputy Mayor and Chief Administrative Officer Andy Kopplin said, “OPSE Director Lt. Col. John Salomone and his team have pulled off something quite extraordinary – literally creating a new organization from scratch that now has annual revenues of $8.5 million, serves more than 850 unique customers each year, with officers averaging over 150 off-duty shifts across our city every day. Our NOPD officers provide by far the best protection for our residents, visitors, and businesses. This new, centralized police detail system is working and only growing stronger.”
View the Office of Police Secondary Employment’s Annual Report here.
