NOPD officers suspended for operating security company www.privateofficer.com

 

New Orleans LA May 8 2011 Mayor Mitch Landrieu suspended a ranking New Orleans police officer Friday, the second officer to be suspended this week related to paid off-duty details performing a city government function.

Sgt. Bradley Rhodes in the 2nd District was suspended for up to 120 days without pay for forming a limited liability corporation that provided security at the city’s car impound lots, a violation of Police Department policy. NOPD’s Public Integrity Bureau is investigating Rhodes and his company, Bradley Rhodes Consultant LLC, that coordinated security for the city’s Parking Division Immobilization Yard, the Claiborne and Almonaster Auto Pounds and the Administrative Hearing Center.

Late Friday, Landrieu also announced that four NOPD officers were being suspended from detail privileges for violating city policies prohibiting police ownership of limited liability corporations related to the off-duty details.

The officers — Capt. Joseph Waguespack of the juvenile division, Capt. Henry Mendoza of the intelligence division, Lt. Otha Sandifer of the 8th District and Sgt. Joseph Catalanato of the mounted division ­– will be prohibited from working any off-duty details for 60 days while the NOPD’s Public Integrity Bureau investigates.

Sandifer’s suspension is apparently linked to his LLC New Dominion Enterprises, which coordinates security patrols in the Downtown Development District. That detail was suspended earlier Friday, according to the DDD’s president and chief executive Kurt Weigle.

Weigle said the detail officers who work for the district focus on community policing and tracking crime trends, while also tackling quality of life problems like panhandling. Their work is meant to supplement the regular patrols by the 8th District, which handles all the calls for service in the area.

Sandifer informed the district that the detail, which costs the DDD $750,000 annually, had been suspended, Weigle said. The DDD, a special taxing district created by the state, is financed by a millage paid by property owners in the district. Along with enhanced policing, the district gets additional cleaning services paid for with the tax money.

DDD officials have already written to NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas and Landrieu asking how the detail can be restarted, Weigle said.

Waguespack’s suspension likely involves his relationship with JJW LLC, whose agent and sole officer is his wife, Joann Waguespack. Waguespack, the former head of the homicide division, was investigated by NOPD in 2007 for payroll fraud while he was working security details for the film “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” More recently, Waguespack was put on desk duty while he is investigated for possible violations related to the Henry Glover civil rights case.

NOPD details have come under heavy scrutiny as controversy swirled around a detail run by Police Commander Edwin Hosli, the head of the 8th District. Officers got paid to work off-duty for Hosli to review the videos for citations taken by the city’s traffic and red-light cameras.

As public outrage over the arrangement boiled over, Landrieu suspended Hosli earlier this week, along with Robert Mendoza, the head of the Department of Public Works, which initially oversaw the work and made the decision to use a police detail to do it. The mayor said he was chagrined by the “poor and questionable judgment of using city funds to pay off-duty police officers to perform police duties.”

Hosli and Mendoza are suspended for up to 120 days pending an investigation by the city inspector general. Hosli is under investigation by the NOPD’s Public Integrity Bureau.

To make up for the loss of detail officers, the DDD will increase the patrols of a private security program the district already uses. Weigle said uniformed security officers patrol on foot and by bicycle, providing extra “eyes and ears” in the streets.

Police Commander Jeffrey Walls, who took over operation of the 8th District this week, also sent out an email to community members saying the district has “made adjustments to manpower” to make up for the loss of the details.