New Orleans poised to exit federal police oversight as consent decree nears end

NEW ORLEANS — After more than a dozen years of federal oversight, a judge will finally decide whether New Orleans can finally police itself again.

U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan is expected to end the consent decree that has governed the NOPD since 2013. The city voluntarily entered the agreement following a federal investigation that found systemic problems including excessive force, biased policing and inadequate training and supervision.

The final hearing in U.S. v. The City Of New Orleans is scheduled for Wednesday morning at Loyola University Law School.

City attorneys argue the department has largely complied with court-ordered reforms and established safeguards to prevent backsliding. In a May brief to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal, they wrote that "none of the systemic vio