By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer | City Councilwoman Susan Guidry scolded elected criminal-justice officials for providing little to no advanced information Wednesday as they appeared before a council committee to provide mid-year updates on how they’re spending their money. She complained that Traffic Court Chief Judge Robert Jones III was only then handing […]

By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer | Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman bought 46 vehicles for his office since 2008 with an average city gas consumption of just 13.6 miles per gallon, records show. Gusman has little incentive to buy fuel-efficient vehicles because the City of New Orleans, not Gusman’s office, pays for his […]

By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer | Even after reforms initiated in 2008 that were meant to reduce arrests, the city jail has  been clogged with petty offenders housed at high cost, according to a report issued Thursday by Inspector General Ed Quatrevaux. Lending support to efforts to substitute citations for arrest of petty […]

By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer | The New Orleans Police Department cancelled the use of seized state drug money to purchase reward coins for police officers two hours after our partners at FOX 8 News questioned Superintendent Ronal Serpas about the legality of the transaction. “It was a snafu,” Serpas said. “It would […]

By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer | Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman is making good progress on temporary jail space, which is designed to  ease pressure on his existing facilities before a new permanent jail is constructed. Still, it remains unclear whether the sheriff will close down 400 existing beds or simply add to […]

By Matt Davis, The Lens staff writer | Sheriff Marlin Gusman used a 10-minute meeting of his little-scrutinized but extremely powerful law enforcement district this morning to draw attention to the city’s failure to take advantage of millions of dollars for capital projects that have sat dormant in the district’s fund for more than a […]