4.1 History of Policing in New Orleans

The Big Easy, as New Orleans is affectionately known, has a vivid and continuous history; however, the city is also known for violence and high crime rates, with many instances of police corruption and abuse of power. In exploring New Orleans’ history, a uniqueness emerged. The city of New Orleans encompasses characteristics of various cities in America as well as the entire Southern region.

Dennis Rousey (1984) is extremely cognizant of both the uniqueness and representation in his recollection of the police in all cities as being the most noticeable organization. There have not been many publications on any particular police department in many years; in the 1980s, the discussion on the topic was synthesized. Police pioneers’ historians Roger Lane and Eric Monkkonen focused on criminality and violence. Rousey noted that past historians have briefly discussed cities in the South, noting some of their uniqueness; however, none have ever conducted an extensive study of any particular police department for an extended period of time. Rousey provides in-depth insight into the urban South and New Orleans. His analysis of police use of deadly force with firearms is deemed the most detailed and perceptive given, also finding high rates of police-on-police shootings and nonqualified police officers.

The author provides a description of the development of the New Orleans police department in five phases, a procedure that includes considerable regression and retreat as it progresses. The first phase started in early 1805 as the development of a military-, gendarmerie-styled police department that focused its time and energy on control of the enormous population of slaves. This type of policing was similar to the styles in Mobile, Charleston, Richmond, and Savannah. Rousey argues that the salaried, uniformed, and armed police forces organized by the city mostly operating in the evening were a representation of the “first contemporary styled police.” The military-styled police officers were equipped with muskets and sabers, were commanded by officers and marched in a squad, and lived in the barracks. Northeastern cities are often credited with the revolutionizing methods of modern policing as opposed to the predated police as night watchmen. The author’s thesis is powerful which causes us to reconsider the policing origins and recounting the influential connection amid racial domination and social control.

The author asserts that crime prevention by way of omnipresence was a vital concept of modern policing; however, the gendarmes did not exemplify this concept. They did not walk the beat as regulated by patrol, and most daily patrolling was completed by detectives that issued warrants through the courts.  The gendarmes’ purposefulness was restricted to controlling the possible slave criminality and rebellion.

The author believes that due to the popularity of the Jacksonian government, decreased population of slaves, and an increase in the ethical conflicts in the United States, including entry points of immigrants and an additional city port, the gendarmes were found to be too militant by city officials. The gendarmes were abolished in favor of a more civilian-styled system, which included patrol forces that operated day and night without deadly weapons and uniforms. New York adopted this system in 1845, which showed that New Orleans once again was ahead of the Northeast by several years. Within weeks of this plan’s adoption, the city was divided into three autonomous municipalities (allowing self-governing of mostly American and French citizens) with different police departments, basically invalidating the efficacy that could have been provided by the new system. Both had similarities in municipality forces; however, the conflicts of policies and jurisdictions unavoidably rose. The centralized directions of the police forces were lost, and a problem of inmates fleeing one municipality to another was one of the inadequacies created by the partition.

The author declares that by 1852, finally the city and the police were reintegrated. Nativists maintained control in the city for a longer period than other areas. As with other cities, the police force was extremely immersed in partisan politics. By the 1850s, the Nativists decreased in numbers while Irish cops became prominent figures in New Orleans and New York. Nativists resumed their post when the Democrats resumed municipalities power. The city had the reputation of being hell on earth during the 1850s, experienced military occupation disassembly during the 1860s, a short time of ex-Confederate domination of police during the infamous 1866 race riot, and the obligation of a new racial integration of the police force during the Reconstruction era.

The author points out that although this police force was organized at the state-level like other cities’ metropolitan police, this police force was considered the best during this time; surely it represented black people and their role in the city. Certainly, as did other organizations of Reconstruction era, the legitimacy of the metropolitans was void in the opinions of whites in the South, who concocted many methods of resistance to the force, including failure to pay taxes and confrontations involving weapons. During the Louisiana redemption of 1877 and the federal troops’ removal, control of the police was returned to the Democrats, who significantly decreased the police force, maintained low salaries, and placed the police in the middle of the political conflict of the partisans. Of course, blacks experienced what would be expected by Southern police officers for generations. In 1888, the force was under civil service ruling, with minimal effects on improving the qualities of retention and recruitment, but arrest rates were mainly due to blacks accused of committing minor offenses; signs of regression were shown in the 1890s regarding increased ethical and racially decreased social service commitment.

The author admits that though many in New Orleans did not deserve better police, some did deserve better. Sadly, this still holds true today. The author’s account is barely whiggish; he notes that institutional regression exists, and institutions can become victims of forceful political powers that cannot be escaped.

Rousey, D. C. (1984). Cops and guns: Police use of deadly force in nineteenth-century New Orleans. Am. J. Legal Hist., 28, 41.