Michael Perlstein / 4 Investigates
NEW ORLEANS - A formal wedding at historic St. Louis Cathedral. A second line after an elegant reception dinner. A motorcade to a downtown hotel. These are classic New Orleans celebrations, events that unfold virtually every weekend in the French Quarter.
These celebrations require police security, and the Eighth Police District is happy to provide the off-duty detail officers.
“Probably 90 percent, 85 percent of these events occur within the confines of the French Quarter,” said Lt. Joseph Valiente, head of the department’s three-person Special Events unit.
But records obtained by 4Investigates show a large number of these side jobs don’t flow through Valiente’s squad. Valiente said he diverts 41 percent of these permitted events to the Eighth District, where they are coordinated by a single patrolman, 24-year veteran Don Powers.
“You can get a tremendous amount of ownership from the people working the event, who really care, if you pick people from those areas,” Valiente said.
But Valiente and his squad weren’t doing all the picking. Stacks of internal police documents show hundreds of details were lined up by Powers, who was prohibited from commenting on this story by NOPD policy.
It appears that Power’s role as broker was hardly a secret.
He is listed as the contact person by the St. Louis Cathedral in their wedding guide. He is also listed – by name and telephone number – on the city’s own website.
Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, said the arrangement with Powers exhibits many of the red flags that were raised by the U.S. Department of Justice. The federal agency, invited by the city to help reform the department, described off-duty details as “a contributing factor to both the perception and reality of the NOPD as a dysfunctional organization.”
“I think,” Goyeneche said, “that you’ve found a prime example of why the detail system needs to be reformed not next week or next month, but right away.”
When controversy over the detail system exploded last month, Powers was one of five officers who lost detail privileges. But while the other officers were ranking supervisors, Powers was the only patrol officer on the list.
His role also raises the most questions. How was Powers allowed to operate hundreds of details through a limited liability corporation he formed in 2006, in strict violation of department policy prohibiting officers from running details through corporations?
And why was Powers allowed to line up scores of details for commanders, including captains such as his supervisor, Eighth District Capt. Edwin Hosli?
Powers also was listed as the coordinator of a detail for Deputy Chief Kirk Bouyelas. That detail, the French Quarter Festival, was in April 2010, just one month before newly appointed Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas banned deputy chiefs from working off-duty details.
“You’re dealing with a situation where a subordinate is, in his capacity as a police officer, may be assigning work to his superiors for the betterment financially of those superiors,” Goyeneche said. “That’s exactly one of the corrupting influences you don’t want to have in a paramilitary organization.”
As for those St. Louis Cathedral weddings, Hosli, now suspended for his role in running the city’s red light camera ticket detail, admitted in a previous interview that he personally worked the lion’s share of them.
The NOPD issued this written statement Thursday in response to the questions about Powers and the Eighth District details:
“Services such as escorting wedding motorcades through the French Quarter are jobs that only certified police officers can do. All parents want their sons and daughters to have the safest most enjoyable wedding day possible – and the NOPD has delivered for decades. However, with core changes to the detail system underway, all officers will soon have a chance to take on such work in the future.”
“We understand the problems with paid details, which is why Superintendent Serpas is completely overhauling the system. Paid details must be transparent, equitable and serve the needs of our community and officers. Some changes have already been made. Others are imminent with time.”
