The devil in the HPD details

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With a new chief and – after elections – a new parish president, Terrebonne officials are confident the Houma Police Department has begun a new era, free from nearly two decades worth of division and rancor.


But the agency still has internal hurdles to leap, not the least of which are unresolved issues concerning how it manages off-duty work assignments given to uniformed officers.

A Times investigation of the off-duty assignments, commonly referred to as “details,” reveals a system of inaccurate records, lack of accountability and in some cases dissatisfaction expressed by people who pay for the services. As The Times made inquiries related to the story, officials began examining the program.

The Times examined the detail programs of other local law enforcement agencies as well. While most lacked at least one element of practices considered problematic, none had the quantity of problems near those identified at HPD, nor long-standing client complaints.


Interviews with leading national law enforcement experts, local officials and examination of records make clear that fundamental changes at HPD would better protect the department from legal liability, meet community relations goals and ultimately protect the officers themselves.

A major change for the better occurred under the administration of former chief Todd Duplantis. Assignment of the lucrative details was taken from a small coterie of captains and transferred to a computer system that fairly and equitably chooses who shall work off-duty and when.

But the cronyism that the change addressed was only part of the problem.


Among those that remain:

• Details are still arranged on a “handshake” basis, with no written agreement, exposing officers and the parish needlessly to potential liability.

• Officers are in some cases paid directly through the parish payroll system but in many others directly by clients, a practice police administration experts say should be uniform, if direct payment from clients is used at all.


• Records used for the system are not adequate to prevent fraud or abuse.

• A climate and culture where accommodation of clients appears to take precedence over the public interest prevails, and is the norm rather than the exception.

NOTHING NEW


Problems relating to off-duty detail management are not unique to HPD. Law enforcement organizations, criminal justice system experts and the U.S. Department of Justice have identified off-duty details as a significant source of problems, particularly since so many cash-strapped police departments are making greater use of them both for extra compensation of officers, and as a way of providing security for public events run by private organizations.

Problems relating to the payment of officers for work done at last year’s Rougarou Festival fueled perceptions of fraud and abuse. Administrators say they are making changes to prevent such problems in the future. But the root causes of those problems – including the department’s weak adherence to its own written policies – still prevail.

“I believe last year’s outcome resulted from a lack of communication between the promoter and law enforcement,” Houma PD’s new boss, Chief Dana Coleman, said. “The officers that were assigned to work this parade fulfilled their assigned responsibility.”


Named for a legendary Cajun swamp critter – a corruption of the French name “loup garou” – the Rougarou Festival is described by organizers as “family friendly with a spooky flair.”

It is the primary fundraiser for the non-profit South Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center, whose mission is public education and outreach regarding Louisiana’s fragile and disappearing coast. Now in its fourth year, the festival has been ranked one of the Top 10 costume parties in the U.S. by USA Today and is a “Top 20” October event according to the Southeast Tourism Society.

Jonathan Foret, the Wetlands Discovery Center’s executive director, knew that the 2014 festival would be bigger than ever, and determined that it would require a police presence to ensure safety and smooth operation.


In 2013, officers adjusted their hours in order to work the event, former chief Duplantis said. But in 2014, officials determined the festival had to pay for officers, hired through the detail system.

HOLD ON CHECKS

Fourteen officers, according to parish records, were assigned to the festival’s parade, which began at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 25, a Saturday. It is a short, free-style procession through downtown streets that includes line-dancing revelers dressed in makeshift zombie-style costumes, sashaying to recorded music.


Officers were hired for a minimum of four hours, at $25 per hour.

Foret said in interviews that he presumed the officers would work the full four hours. But when the parade was over – sometime between 7:30 and 8 p.m. – officers showed up at an information booth at Houma’s courthouse square asking for their paychecks so that they could leave.

“I had asked that their checks not be distributed until the end of the four hours,” said Foret, after reluctantly agreeing to discuss what occurred. The officers, he said, were told to finish out their remaining time working with the burgeoning courthouse square crowd, estimated at that point to be about 5,000 people.


A volunteer manning the booth went to speak with Foret, who reiterated his desire that the officers remain downtown until 9:30 p.m., according to his recollection.

When the volunteer returned to the officers and delivered Foret’s message, according to his account, they balked. The volunteer returned to Foret, who, in exasperation, said the checks could be released. But he was not satisfied with the outcome.

“Why wouldn’t I want them to work for the full four hours?” Foret said. “To me the detail was the festival, and [expected] I would have security for four hours, not when the parade is over, you can go home. After the parade the expectation was we would have their presence around the festival there. Nobody said that after the parade they are leaving. I knew they would be there for four hours.”


Foret aired his complaint to Parish President Michel Claudet, who communicated it to then-chief Todd Duplantis, who says he was in an awkward position at the time.

“WE ARE THE POLICE”

Duplantis and the parish were then in litigation with Kyle Faulk, the sergeant who had overseen and helped organize the detail. Faulk had alleged that Duplantis took “retaliatory action” against him in response to public statements he made at a parish council meeting. The case was settled in June for $300,000.


Duplantis said that rather than talk with Faulk, he chose to discuss the Rougarou matter with Capt. Duane Farmer, Faulk’s supervisor.

An audio recording of the Oct. 30 encounter, under review as evidence in other HPD litigation, reveals a tense exchange between Farmer and Duplantis.

“The detail said work the corners,” Farmer said, a reference to the parade.


“Some of the guys might not have worked it,” Farmer said, when asked by Duplantis why officers did not work the full four hours for which the wetlands center paid.

Foret, Farmer said, should have made clear that he wanted officers to work the full four hours for which they were paid.

“Next year, all he has to say is work the full four hours,” Farmer is heard telling Duplantis. He asked Duplantis why, if Foret’s organization was getting $60,000 from the parish to defray costs of the festival officers were being “nickeled and dimed.”


A fact check with parish officials revealed that Farmer’s assumptions were wrong. In 2014 the Rougarou Fest got a $20,000 boost from the parish, from recreation and tourism dollars. In 2013, the festival did get a $60,000 grant from BP money, for a festival that organizers say costs about $80,000 to stage.

“He should have said it from the start that he was expecting them to work downtown,” Farmer said as the conversation with Duplantis continued. “A lot of these guys were working shift and talking, ‘Yeah, I’ll work the corner if I can go home after that.’ All he’s got to say is I require them to work the whole four hours and that would be fair.”

Duplantis countered that by leaving early the officers left one cop by himself at the courthouse square in the midst of thousands of people, jeopardizing that officer’s safety.


“We are the police, it’s our job,” Duplantis said in regard to officers remaining for the full four hours.

Duplantis then told Farmer that the following year, Foret might seek officers from Terrebonne Sheriff Jerry Larpenter rather than HPD.

“That’s awesome, tell him to go,” Farmer said. “I heard his whole story. Let him go to the sheriff’s office. Invite him to go.”


DANGLING CONVERSATION

Duplantis said he felt officers took advantage of Foret, by being paid for time they did not work.

“We’re getting taken advantage of,” Farmer is heard telling the police chief. “They don’t want to work the f—ing parade; they want to take their families.”


Farmer has since stated he was not involved with the planning of the event, though he did have knowledge of it.

Asked by The Times about the detail disagreements, Sgt. Kyle Faulk said it was understood from the beginning that officers would only work the parade and then be gone. He disputes the account given by Foret.

“We were having trouble actually filling that schedule because of the day it fell on,” Faulk said, recalling that it was a Saturday. “It was going to be an issue. It’s hard to fill regular details sometimes, but a large-scale event it is very hard to fill. People don’t give up an entire weekend. The only way I could fill it is if they work the parade and are paid the four-hour minimum. I need those intersections filled. Parades are not a detail people are fond of working.”


Foret insists that any distinction between the parade function of officers and their re-assignment to the courthouse square for any time remaining within their four hours was never explained to him.

Duplantis acknowledges that he never took disciplinary action against officers or supervisors in regard to the Rougarou Festival complaints, citing the Faulk litigation as a reason.

“[A small group of ranking officers] had been using the Kyle Faulk lawsuit and bullying me so they can do what they want when they want,” was the explanation Duplantis gave in an interview last week.


RULE NOT FOLLOWED

Duplantis was well aware of rule breaking during his tenure regarding details, and in some cases he had disciplined officers for violations. In a 2012- memo he stressed the importance of following the rules.

“An employee shall complete an Extra-Duty Detail form accurately, completely and present the report to the client for signature,” the memo states. “Once an employee schedules an extra duty detail, the employee shall be responsible to attend … on time and leave on time unless released by the employer.”


The hours officers actually worked at the Rougarou Festival are not represented in paperwork they filed after the event, despite the accuracy rule. Extra-duty detail time sheets, signed by the officers who worked, show they were at the festival from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. even though they were not.

Coleman said there was no intentional misrepresentation by officers. The discrepancy in the forms occurred because their purpose is to make sure the parish is reimbursed $2 per hour from officer paychecks to cover administrative costs of the detail, he said.

Two officers did correctly fill in the two hours they actually worked, however, while noting that they were paid for four hours.


Coleman said his own inquiry into the matter, which began after The Times asked for records in August, indicated to him that the parade and the festival were seen by the department as two separate operations.

Discussions in advance of this year’s festival, Coleman said, have included clarifications of how its details will be assigned and paid for.

But those preparations – to date – have still not included use of a written agreement.


The HPD’s own procedures manual states that such an agreement must be executed before off-duty cops are hired, although it does allow for a chief or parish president’s permission if it is not. The parish, officials said, has no records related to agreements.

The HPD policy on details, revised in 2014, includes standard restrictions such as a ban on details at establishments that serve alcohol or pornography, and in many ways comports with what are regarded as best practices for law enforcement.

It includes a form called a “Request for Police Services Agreement,” which states the client may be liable if an officer is injured as a result of “non-police action.” The client also agrees to the potential for responsibility for liability arising from an officer’s actions. A space on the form is intended for listing specific responsibilities the officer working the detail must complete.


Foret said he was never required to sign anything when he contracted for HPD officers; business owners who routinely use HPD officers for details also said they have never signed such a form. Coleman and other officials confirmed that requests for contracts to be signed were met with resistance by retailers and so further efforts to use that form, or any other, were dropped, thus confirming that the details are agreed upon with a simple handshake.

RETAIL WOES

Problems with HPD details go beyond the specific problems encountered at last year’s Rougarou Festival. Officers work paid details at venues such as the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center and the Dumas Auditorium routinely, including weddings and Carnival krewe functions, as well as retail stores. In many cases, their performance has been praised as exemplary. But issues exist.


Past problems with officers not showing up or remaining seated in a lobby area rather than circulating among guests were raised regarding parties at the Civic Center, officials confirm.

Retail storeowners and managers over the past month have confirmed performance issues.

“We have had instances where the officers say I have to go because I am on a call or called off,” one retail manager said. “There are instances where we have been left vulnerable.”


“I have had officers do paperwork sitting in their car or at the store, and we have told them paperwork is something you do on your own time,” a store manager added. “Perception-wise, it’s like I am paying you to be here to watch my store but you have more important things to do instead of watching my store. There is a lot of room for improvement.”

In some instances, officers actually clock in with the retailer’s own time card system, leaving open questions about who they actually work for and the potential for disputes on liability.

Lack of a firm handle on the rules, HPD officials have acknowledged, proves a double-edged sword.


Among the disagreements that exist between police officials and retailers is what an officer should do if he or she witnesses a crime being committed.

Coleman said officers prefer making an arrest immediately upon seeing a suspect hide articles in clothing when committing a theft; some retail clients disagree, and want officers to wait until the suspect is outside the store.

“Our officers know when they have probable cause,” Coleman said, noting that waiting until a perpetrator is outside can lead to safety problems for the officers and the public.


Such concerns are not addressed in writing, however, since the agreement intended for that purpose is not used.

In interviews last week, Coleman said during his administration many issues that may be problematic will be reviewed and addressed, including the extra-duty detail procedures.

“Practices that were done in the past, we are trying to get away from those,” Coleman said. “We are a new administration. We are trying to move forward. Me and every officer in this department are trying to put the practices of the past behind us.”


Revellers parade during the 2014 Rougarou Festival in Houma. Organizers said police officers paid by them for four hours bailed out after the two-hour parade, refusing to complete the assignment. Police officials say it was a misunderstanding. 

 

COURTESY