Mike Hoss and Mike Perlstein / Eyewitness News
NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Justice Department said this about the NOPD’s unregulated detail system: “Virtually every officer works a detail, wants to work a detail or will have to rely on an officer who works a detail.”
With that in mind, we looked at the records of the now-suspended Commander Edwin Hosli and to see how much time he was spending away from fighting crime in the city's most visible district.
Hosli, former 8th District commander, says it's not a bank job, he doesn't punch a clock. But Eyewitness News looked at the number of his details over the past two years – a busy man, in and out of his French Quarter district.
He worked as a school traffic guard on a long-term detail for Newman on Jefferson Avenue, a detail that a recent district inspection noted, forced Hosli to split his shift with a patrol officer working under his command in the 8th District, enabling the officer's detail hours to overlap with his city hours – both department violations.
The Newman deal is what is called a yearly renewal detail, lengthy. But there's also short-term details, usually a couple of days or a week. And Hosli had several of those as well, and a couple stood out.
On August 9, 2010, Hosli worked a detail for a marketing group listed from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., a 15-hour detail. And on January 3, 2011, he worked a security detail for an out-of-state company from 11:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., an 8 1/2 hour detail during what would be his work day in the French Quarter.
And Hosli has several other details all over town, outside of his own district, including the lucrative and much desired Jazz Fest detail.
But he also works a building security detail at the old Lindy Boggs Hospital in Mid-City, and the commander of the 8th District has a regular detail to work security for Ochsner Baptist Hospital.
Rafael Goyeneche of the Metropolitan Crime Commission said it can be a pathway to corruption.
“And when you have a district commander in the most high profile district of the city working all these details, it only raises the issues of potential conflicts and problems that the Justice Department put in that report,” Goyeneche said.
In all, over the last two years, he had 20 details – some once in a while, others on a regular basis.
Superintendent Ronal Serpas told Eyewitness News that Hosli's and other officer's futures depend on the outcome of several investigations.
“There's no question in my mind that if we find violations, Mike, we're gonna act on them,” Serpas said. “That's not a subject of debate. We're gonna act on them.”
The investigation will likely center on what department policy has been violated, including the fact that Hosli and many other officers formed corporations to get paid details that has Hosli and another officer serving 60-day suspensions.
And one other issue: on several of Hosli's details, he didn't do the hiring. He was hired by someone of lower rank who actually works under him in the 8th District, another violation of detail policy.
“They use their bosses on the job to work for them, turning the chain of command upside down, creating another conflict of interest,” Goyeneche said.
Hosli said he cannot comment on the investigation. The city offered no comment other than to say Hosli remains suspended without pay for 60 days.
Goyeneche said while this focused on Hosli, it could have easily been someone else of rank in another district, and that the system that favors and creates a monopoly needs to be blown up.
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4 Investigates' Mike Perlstein contributed to this report.
