NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A feud between New Orleans' inspector general and the city's independent police monitor has apparently ended with an agreement that their respective offices will be run separately.
Inspector General Ed Quatrevaux and police monitor Susan Hutson have agreed to seek a city charter change to separate their offices, Quatrevaux said in a news release Wednesday. The police monitor currently is part of the inspector general's office.
An agreement signed in the office of City Council member Jared Brossett calls for separation of the agencies and dedicated funding from the city's general fund to the police monitor, Quatrevaux said.
The City Council will begin the process of calling a charter change election on Thursday, he said.
Hutson and Quatrevaux have been at odds over funding for some time. The disputes escalated last month when Quatrevaux added allegations that Hutson at times overstepped her authority, an accusation she denied. He called for the local Ethics Review Board to fire her.
Wednesday's agreement ends a row over the powers and limits of the independent police monitor, an office that looks into police misconduct and citizens' complaints in New Orleans.
The police department is under a federal consent decree — a court-backed agreement between the city and the U.S. Department of Justice — for multiple reforms and there is a court-appointed monitor, separate from the local monitor office, keeping an eye on the department's compliance.
Among Quatrevaux's complaints against Hutson: He said she improperly released video showing a New Orleans Police officer striking a 16-year-old girl inside a holding cell. The officer had been fired previously for using unauthorized force.
Quatrevaux said Hutson's release of the video was called inappropriate by U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan, the judge who approved the consent decree.
The inspector general also questioned statements Hutson made on a political show regarding the Michael Brown case in Ferguson, Missouri. Hutson, he said, wrongly "speculated on the officer's guilt."
Hutson's lawyer, Ronald Wilson, at the time said Quatrevaux's accusations were "totally lacking in any substance."
Wilson said Hutson has "the support of the community" and is performing her job well.
– by AP Reporter Kevin McGill
