NEW ORLEANS -- Employees of the New Orleans Police Department will soon carry new identification cards.
"As you know if you have anybody that's got kids in college, making false identifications is not difficult to do," said NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas. "We wanted to make ours a bit more secure. We wanted to make it a bit more professional looking."
Serpas said the new credentials were designed to make it easier for citizens and fellow officers to spot police impersonators.
The ID has the word "police" prominently displayed as opposed to "NOPD" on the old card. One side has the police department patch. The other side shows the city of New Orleans seal.
Each commission card has the officer's picture, rank, badge number and bar coded employee number.
The chief said officers are required to show their ID when asked to do so. He also said officers are not supposed to hold it against a citizen if he or she demands to see the credentials.
However, criminal defense attorney Robert Jenkins said in some cases simply asking for ID or a badge number when confronted by a police officer could result in you being arrested.
"Especially when there's an incident happening on the street or somebody just wants your badge number to make a report to PIB (Public Integrity Bureau)," said Jenkins. "That's when you have interfering with a police officer, you can't get their badge number."
"You have to show it," said Serpas. "You have to identify yourself. We're public creatures. We work for the public. We have no capacity to deny our identification to a citizen who asks for it, particularly if we're conducting our job."
Regardless of the department's official policy, attorney Jenkins said it's best to first cooperate with police, then ask questions later.
"My advice is always to follow what the police officer says, no matter what it is, follow and then you can attack it at a later date, but don't do anything to inflame or upset them," said Jenkins.
Serpas said the department is about halfway through handing out the new ID cards. He said all officers should have them by October 1.
