Yesterday, Friday, March 14th, attorneys for PANO & BOP appeared before the Civil Service Commission for a hearing regarding the promotional process used by the NOPD. While this hearing centered around the latest tests for CAPTAIN & MAJOR, the hearing is important as it will help shape the promotional process st all classified ranks going forward. As part of the inquiry, Mayor Latoya Cantrell and NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick were subpoenaed to appear and testify.
Though Mayor LaToya Cantrell did show pursuant to her subpoena, she invoked her 5th Amendment privilege to not incriminate herself to avoid answering questions .
Later in the evidentiary hearing, which was not published on the commission’s website ahead of time, New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick testified that Cantrell had expressed concerns about bias in the captains’ promotion process when Lt. Sabrina Richardson dropped from her 3rd position on the Civil Service test, to #8 after a deputy chief's assessment panel as part of the process based on a CAO policy in place at the time. That policy has since been rescinded.
Richardson had slid down the promotions list, in part, based on payroll violations detailed in a 121-page internal investigation in 2021, which found she double-dipped to collect pay for off-duty security details while on the clock at NOPD and repeatedly worked more than the maximum number of hours in a day, leading to her demotion from probationary captain to lieutenant.
Cantrell was subpoenaed to testify at the hearing and attended with her criminal defense attorney, Eddie Castaing, invoked Cantrell’s 5th Amendment right to not incriminate herself under oath in response to all questions.
Castaing did not respond to requests for comment Friday by the media, but he's representing Cantrell in two federal corruption cases against two of her associates, building inspection company owner Randy Farrell and her former bodyguard, former NOPD officer Jeffrey Vappie. Farrell is specifically accused of bribing Cantrell and she is an unindicted co-conspirator in that case.
Superintendent Kirkpatrick responded to questions posed by PANO & BOP attorneys plus that of the Civil Service Commission. In addition, PANO & BOP attorneys were able to obtain some texts and emails between the Mayor & Superintendent and some others which were also discussed. Much of the content was redacted but there were some that were produced and were discussed.
The attorneys were instructed to submit briefs by next Friday (one week) after which the Civil Service Commission will offer its ruling