Justice Department, New Orleans Police Department agree on overhaul

After Hurricane Katrina, four police officers shot and killed two people in an incident on the Danziger Bridge.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Justice Department, NOPD reach consent decree to be filed in federal court
• Officials say it includes 100 far-ranging recommendations
• Officials say deal includes a minimum four years of federal and court monitoring
• The NOPD has been plagued for years by corruption and abuses

Washington (CNN) -- Attorney General Eric Holder led federal and local officials Tuesday in announcing a massive overhaul of the New Orleans Police Department, which has been plagued for years by corruption, excessive use of force, illegal searches and widespread racial discrimination.

In what Holder called the most wide-ranging such agreement in the nation's history, the Justice Department and NOPD reached a deal on a consent decree that was filed in federal court in New Orleans. The deal includes more than 100 recommendations dealing with virtually every aspect of the department.

"The consent decree requires the Police Department to make broad changes in policies and practices relating to use of force, stops, searches, arrests, and interrogations," Holder said.

Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez, who heads the Justice Civil Rights Division and played a key role in the agreement, joined Holder and top city officials at a New Orleans news conference.

"This landmark consent decree is the most comprehensive agreement the Civil Rights Division has ever entered into with a police department," Perez said, "and it will serve as a blueprint for reform for departments across the country."

If, as expected, a federal judge approves the agreement, it will mark a dramatic day in the police department's history. A DoJ investigation in the 1990s resulted in a temporary improvement in police conduct, but officials say there was no court-backed consent decree with tough requirements, and the NOPD slipped back into its old ways of doing things.

Officials said they expect the agreement will stick because of the wide-ranging, detailed requirements including a minimum of four years of federal and court monitoring.

The sweeping agreement requires detailed documentation of cases in which police use force, and a review of each case by officials in the police department's Public Integrity Bureau.

Even traffic stops are dealt with in the agreement because of complaints of inappropriate police conduct, and racial profiling. Officials also said the agreement makes an important change by requiring the videotaping of suspect interviews to ensure there are no longer threats to harm the suspect or his family.

Payment for off-duty security work, which had been a source of department corruption, will be limited and carefully scrutinized.