Cleaning Up New Orleans

We're not talking about the aftermath of Katrina or the BP oil spill. We're talking about the corrupt New Orleans Police Department that has been under fire for over a decade.

The Rove Republican Racket did nothing to the detriment of minorities and low-income neighborhoods. Just look at the photo of New Orleans cops roughing up a housing activist.

The Rove-Bush-Cheney Administration looked the other way and let the abuses continue, especially after the left over mess of Katrina.

Now U.S. Attorney general Eric Holder, the Obama Administration and the local Mayor have taken charge. NPR reports:

Federal prosecutors announced Monday that they are reviewing the long-troubled New Orleans Police Department.The  move comes after Mayor Mitch Landrieu asked the Justice Department to intervene earlier this month, saying the city's police force needed nothing less than a complete transformation. Assistant U.S. Attorney General Tom Perez said the investigation will include lawyers and nonlawyers with broad experience in police issues.The Justice Department's civil rights unit will investigate whether the police engaged in a pattern and practice of discrimination.

"The investigation will examine allegations of excessive force, unconstitutional searches and seizures, racial profiling, failures to provide adequate police services to particular neighborhoods, and related misconduct," Perez said in a letter to Landrieu that was released Monday. 

The arrangements have prompted new training requirements and rules that govern when officers can use firearms. The fresh oversight comes as prosecutors continue to explore the shooting deaths of unarmed people on a New Orleans bridge in 2005, shortly after Hurricane Katrina struck the city. Four officers have pleaded guilty this year in connection with the incident.