OIG pens letter to New Orleans Police Department publicizing inaccurate crime stats reporting

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — A letter addressed to New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick from the New Orleans Inspector General, is reporting the NOPD’s alleged failure to report accurate crime statistics in accordance with state law.

The letter states that the inaccuracy has cost the city and its nonprofit partners at least $1.1 million. This includes grant money from the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement used to support crime victims.

The OIG recently conducted an evaluation of the Orleans Parish Communication District’s contract for Hexagon OnCall Records (Hexagon).2 While researching the Hexagon contract, the OIG became aware that the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) was potentially ineligible to receive grants administered by the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement (LCLE) due to failure to report accurate crime statistics through the Louisiana Incident Based Crime Reporting System (LIBRS). 3 This letter addresses the potential implications of the NOPD’s lack of LIBRS certification.
Office of Inspector General

OIG officials stated that, like all other state law enforcement agencies since 2021, the NOPD has been required to submit the crime data to the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement (LCLE) in the new format, through the Louisiana Incident Based Crime Reporting System.

“Under Louisiana law, failure to become certified through LIBRS resulted in ineligibility to receive certain federal grant money.”

It further stated in 2019, the NOPD received a federal NCS-X grant of $358,120 to help the department transition to LIBRS standards. Despite the efforts of paying $427,241 for a Records Management System upgrade and extended deadline, the department failed to reach standards.

This led to the NOPD not submitting crime data in 2021 to the state until March 2024 resulting in a repayment of almost $200,000 of the $358,120 award.

As previously stated, the LCLE’s allocation of funds to crime victims are based on a formula dependent on crime stats. Due to a recalculation and the absence of 2021 statistics, it appeared as if New Orleans had no crime causing a drop in funding from 15.89% to 10.63%.

Additionally, OIG officials said had the NOPD submitted statistics in a timely manner, the Orleans District would have received $700,000 (15.33%) of grant funding for the Orleans Parish Juvenile Court’s Human Trafficking Victim Assistance Program and the Sexual Trauma Awareness and Response Center, and others.

In the letter, the following has been recommended as the city works to launch a new RMS and for the NOPD.

• The City should ensure NOPD staff are trained to document incidents in ways that meet LIBRS reporting standards before the new RMS is launched.
• The City should ensure adequate staff resources are dedicated to verifying the quality of data submitted by field officers.
• Per LCLE guidance, the NOPD should commit to submitting full months of LIBRS data to the
  State immediately after launching the new RMS, even if initial data contain errors.

The OIG reports failure to comply could affect the amount of federal grant funding until 2031.

Read full OIG letter

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