Report blasts New Orleans police

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NEW ORLEANS, March 17 (UPI) -- New Orleans police officers are badly recruited and poorly trained, resulting in abusive and biased behavior, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday.

The Justice Department began an investigation last year at the request of New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu. In the report, officials said they found a pattern of excessive force, racial profiling, discrimination against homosexuals, and failure to help crime victims who do not speak English well and to investigate crimes like sexual assault and domestic violence.

"Our findings show that the problems facing the NOPD are wide ranging, systemic, and deeply rooted in the culture of the Department," said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.

The report suggested New Orleans police officers are the product of a faulty system off recruitment and are then inadequately trained with poor supervision and support once they hit the streets.

Baty Landis, founder of Silence is Violence, told WWLTV, New Orleans, the report shows why so many New Orleans residents distrust the police.

"It is gratifying to see what we all know is happening put out there for everybody to read," Landis said.