Road to Reform | Two cities plagued by police misconduct, facing federal oversight
New Orleans has been called a "small, big city." It takes 15 minutes to get to most places and the locals know what high schools each other went to. Sound familiar?
High crime, police brutality, community distrust of the police department and under the watch of the U.S. Department of Justice.
No, we're not talking about Louisville.
New Orleans, Louisiana, known for Mardi Gras and jazz is more than 700 miles south of the Derby City.
At first, it may not seem like the "Big Easy" has much in common with Louisville.
Locals say it takes fifteen minutes to get to most places in New Orleans and those who grew up there all know what high schools each other went to.
Sound familiar?
A closer look at New Orleans actually provides a peek through the looking glass and into Louisville's possible future under federal oversight.
Small, big city Deep community wounds
As the sun sets in the French Quarter, the heart of the tourist district, flags proudly manifest the city's French roots. The fleur-de-lis is stamped just about everywhere you look.
Michelle Woodfork calls her hometown a "small, big city."
"We don't buy groceries, we make groceries. We don't shake hands, we hug," she said. "We all know what high school each other went to."
They're sentiments many in Louisville may find familiar.
Woodfork serves as the New Orleans Police Department's (NOPD) interim superintendent. She's the first Black woman to lead the NOPD and trailblazing runs in her family.
"My uncle was actually the first African American police chief and he was a police chief when I joined in 1991," she said. Her father also served in the New Orleans Police Department before joining the federal Drug Enforcement Administration as a special agent in the 70s. "Law enforcement has been a big part of my life."
Growing up in New Orleans, Woodfork knows the city like the back of her hand.
With every part of the city being within a few minutes drive, she says it makes it easier for officers to get to know the public, be present in the communities and know the city's culture.
"Community policing, to me, means that you are joining with the people who live work, play and visit this community," she said. "Getting to know them, making sure that you have a relationship with them, and listening to what the community has to say and responding."
As tight-knit as each of the communities of New Orleans and Louisville are, they've also both been deeply wounded by catastrophic moments that forever reshaped them.
For New Orleans, that moment was in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina made landfall and devastated the Gulf Coast.
For Louisville, it was the death of Breonna Taylor in 2020, which sparked both outrage and protests locally and nationally.
Civil rights attorney Mary Howell says it's those moments that exposed a much deeper wound that had been there long before.
"What happened in Louisville was heartbreaking. And you know, our hearts have been broken here too." Howell said. "That's part of the motivation that we've had here is to try to prevent more hearts from being broken."
WHAS11's Isaiah Kim-Martinez asked Howell what comes to mind when she hears Taylor's name.
"The pain," she said. "The horror and the pain."
Howell has worked police brutality cases for decades, even before Katrina hit. She said the corruption was exposed in the aftermath of the Category 5 hurricane, but the issues had existed for years.
"All the major reforms that have been put into place by the previous administration had been undone. The feds came in after Katrina and we had 20 police officers indicted," Howell said. "Fifteen convicted in major events which cost lives of a number of our residents of our city."
Both events pulled the curtains back from what many in marginalized communities say they already knew existed: systemic problems within the police departments.
'Good cops, bad cops' Pulling back the curtains
W.C Johnson, a long-time activist and a founding member of Community United for Change, said one of the biggest problems New Orleans has faced is police brutality, specifically murders at the hands of officers.
"No one knows any better, the crimes of the police, than the people who've had to live under that kind of condition," Johnson said. "I have dealt with the police here in New Orleans for a long time. There have been some good ones, and there have been some bad ones. But the bad ones always overshadow the good ones."
The city has a history of coverups and a culture of corruption.
It's something Eric Hessler, an attorney for the Police Association of New Orleans, told WHAS11 went unchecked for years.
"The investigations were slanted," Hessler said. " [They] would leave out evidence if they needed a particular outcome."
He said although there is a history of corruption within the department, he believes NOPD is moving in the right direction but is being hindered by the consent decree.
"[NOPD is] hiring good people. Now we're working to do constitutional policing. These guys and girls know how to do it, they want to do it. But the sheer amount of rules and regulations and oversight that they're working under makes it almost impossible for them to do it."
In March, the DOJ released its scathing 86-page report on the Louisville Metro Police Department.
Among federal investigators' findings were discrimination against Black residents, falsified search warrants -- shedding light on the one that resulted in Breonna Taylor's death -- and a department that often engages in patterns of misconduct that deprives people of their rights.
Both cities are also tied together by high rates of violent crime, some of the most troublesome in the nation.
"We have carjackings, robberies, burglaries -- you name it -- in broad daylight," Hessler said. "And there is no sign of substantial slowing."
Looming consent decree 'No end in sight'
New Orleans now finds itself in the midst of a common push for reform to shape a more honorable police department and build a safer community.
"What do we have to do to stop this stuff -- to stop the cycle -- so that other families, other communities don't go through what we've gone through?" Howell asked.
Both cities are leaning on the Justice Department to provide a roadmap to rebuild the community through the use of a consent decree.
This is an agreement between the federal government and a local government to implement change. A federal judge monitors progress and determines compliance.
New Orleans has been under a consent decree for years, with many telling WHAS11 there's no end in sight.
"We were supposed to be in it for like six years," Woodfork said. "We just passed the 10-year mark."
In principle, Louisville has agreed to a consent decree with the months-long process of drafting the contract and its terms to come soon.
On June 1, a spokesperson for Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg's office said they're waiting for the DOJ to send them a first draft of the agreement, and that negotiations will follow afterward.
Now, it begs the question: Has the consent decree worked in New Orleans?
The "Road to Reform: Lessons for Louisville" Special Report continues online and on-air tomorrow, June 13 at 6 p.m.
Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.