Bill Capo / Eyewitness News
NEW ORLEANS -- Reaction to the U.S. Department of Justice's report on the NOPD came swiftly, and in some cases there was shock.
"It is gratifying to see what we all know is happening put out there for everybody to read," said Baty Landis, the founder of Silence is Violence.
Landis said the report shows why there is such a disconnect between the police department and the community.
"As the police treat the community with disrespect, that is going to naturally nurture the distrust of the community for the police, and it just undermines everybody's productivity and the safety of us all," Landis said.
"Sickening," exclaimed NAACP President Danatus King. "It's sickening. Really, it's just sickening."
King said the report confirms years of stories he has heard from residents who say they became innocent victims of police and targets of racial profiling.
King said, at this point, he doesn't think the police can be trusted.
"And the report is showing it. Just plain and simple, the report is showing it."
"I knew it was bad, but to see it in black and white in this detail," said Rafael Goyeneche of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, "I think you would have to be inhuman not to be taken aback by this, and upset about it."
Goyeneche was surprised to find the report documenting police misdeeds long after Katrina.
"Some three years after Katrina, after Danziger has been known about, as the Justice Department is investigating the Algiers case, you still have the police department persisting and continuing to violate people's rights," said Goyeneche.
Justice Department officials say they remain optimistic that NOPD can be reformed, adding that this is the start of a blueprint for reform, in which they want to have public input.
"Number one, identify the best practices across the nation," King said.
"The Justice Department has basically laid it bare for us," said Raphael Goyeneche. "It is going to be incumbent upon this mayor, and this administration, and most importantly the community, to make sure that we don't repeat that mistake going forward."
"If the police officers in our neighborhood are going to start treating us differently and with more respect, and more of a sense of partnership, then it comes back to the community to be open to that," Landis said.
