A New Orleans police captain and labor leader has won a civil service appeal overturning his one-day suspension for allegedly creating a rogue intelligence team.
The New Orleans Civil Service Commission said last month there was no evidence Capt. Mike Glasser broke department rules when he assigned two intelligence officers to New Orleans. -Orleans East.
One of the unit’s officers was involved in a failed raid in which the officer was shot. But the commission endorsed the view that the raid was an “isolated incident” that had nothing to do with Glasser.
Unless the city appeals to the state’s 4th Circuit Court, the commission’s decision could turn the page on an incident that alarmed federal comptrollers. Glasser’s lawyer argued that this also supported his claim that he was targeted as a critic of the NOPD brass.
“Only when you enter a fair forum can you expect any justice,” said Glasser’s attorney, Eric Hessler of the New Orleans Police Association.
Fly under the radar
NOPD leaders said they had no idea Glasser formed what he called an intelligence “function” shortly after he was named chief of New Orleans East’s 7th District in January 2020.
The unusual team broke into public view, however, on the morning of April 21, 2020. Two intelligence officers, Kevin Doucette and Sasha Winchester, took part in a raid on an apartment complex in the block 6700 from Bundy Road that went crooked.
Doucette had learned from an informant that a domestic violence suspect known to have allegedly hated cops, Horace Toppins, was hiding inside. Without calling in the SWAT team for backup, Doucette led a hastily assembled group of officers inside.
Toppins fired a bullet that left Doucette’s right arm broken and maimed. The two men fought on the floor of the apartment before Toppins was arrested.
However, Doucette did not receive the hero treatment often reserved for cops in similar circumstances. Investigators from the Office of Public Integrity concluded that he violated several regulations. He was suspended for three days for failing to wear a bulletproof vest and uniform top.
Meanwhile, internal police investigators expanded their investigation into the unusual assignment given to them by Glasser and another supervisor, Lt. Daniel Anderson.
Captain controversy
Glasser, the talkative president of the Police Association of New Orleans, spent two years in the 2010s in virtual exile, performing “administrative support” from a FEMA trailer. Officers consigned to it were often referred to as “trailer trash”.
Capt. Michael Glasser looks at an ammunition loader as New Orleans police investigate a fatal shooting and a bullet-riddled Chevrolet Silverado in the 2800 block of First Street in Central City on August 1, 2015.
His assignment to the 7th arrondissement put him back in a high-level position and responsible for an area where residents often ask for more police presence. According to Glasser’s account, he began to tackle the problem of crime by creating an intelligence “function”, which was supposed to provide information on criminals to uniformed officers who would make the arrests.
Yet despite NOPD orders requiring all officers to wear body cameras, Doucette and Winchester were on the streets without them. Glasser said he did not know and added that he would not have tolerated intelligence agents making risky and “proactive” arrests.
But the NOPD’s Office of Public Integrity concluded that Glasser and Anderson had a responsibility to push the idea of an intelligence unit up the chain of command. For investigators, it was clear that the intelligence unit was carrying out “proactive” police work. Glasser and Anderson were both suspended for one day for “neglect of duty”.
An “isolated incident”
Glasser and Anderson appealed the suspension to the Civil Service Commission, which reviews internal discipline imposed by city departments. Last month, a three-member panel said the NOPD had failed to produce evidence that intelligence officers had been ordered to conduct the kind of policing that would have required higher approval. .
The panel also noted that another 7th District supervisor testified that he told Doucette to stand down instead of leading the raid.
The panel adopted the report of hearing examiner Jay Ginsberg, who said the evidence “strongly supported” the idea that the intelligence unit was not conducting proactive police work.
The commission also cleared Anderson, the lieutenant involved in creating the intelligence unit.
The city could appeal to the 4th Circuit State Court of Appeals, but it has not said whether it will.
In a statement, a police department spokesperson said the commission upheld a separate violation for Glasser, for telling an officer to turn off his body-worn camera at the scene of the April 21 raid before the incident. arrival of internal investigators.
Another complaint persists
For Glasser, the investigation into his creation of the intelligence unit was much more than the raid. He argued he had been targeted for retaliation for his criticism of department heads and filed a complaint seeking an investigation into the NOPD’s own investigative apparatus.
The complaint was forwarded to the Office of the City Inspector General. But in a statement on Friday, the inspector general’s office said it was not taking action due to a lack of staff.
“Once our staffing levels increase, the OIG will once again be able to use its resources to assist NOPD, PIB in its investigations into allegations of administrative violations by the executive leadership of the NOPD,” said William Bonney, Inspector deputy general.
Suspect pleads guilty
Another major development in the case took place in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court last month.
Toppins, the target of the raid, pleaded guilty Feb. 1 to one count of aggravated second-degree battery, one count of felony possession of a firearm and three counts of resisting an officer under an agreement with prosecutors who dropped other charges.
Judge Karen Herman sentenced Toppins to 10 years in prison.
