Violence, drug overdoses and suicide attempts have long bedeviled the New Orleans jail, which must be a really crummy place to work.
Indeed, although running the jail is Sheriff Susan Hutson's primary responsibility, her deputies evidently regard being assigned to work there as a form of punishment. One of those deputies, Greg Malveaux, presumably was the latest to see it that way when Hutson yanked him as Council member Helena Moreno's bodyguard and told him to report for slammer duty.
Malveaux was suspected of tailing and videotaping Mayor LaToya Cantrell when she was allegedly using a city-owned Pontalba apartment for private purposes, but he was soon cleared and back at Moreno's side.
All council members have a deputy to keep them safe, while Cantrell rates a full-fledged New Orleans Police Department officer for that purpose. With both NOPD and the Sheriff's Office seriously understaffed and operating under consent decrees, it is surely time to consider whether pampering politicians is a legitimate use of the law-enforcement dollar.
Mayors in other cities across America are assigned bodyguards at taxpayer expense, but council members generally aren't. They get along without them just fine in Jefferson Parish and Baton Rouge.
If City Council members feel nervous on the streets of New Orleans, their constituents will certainly sympathize because chances are they do too. In the murder capital of America we could all use a personal protector.
It may be that the politicians feel particularly vulnerable and fear that citizens outraged by some piece of legislation will vent their spleen. But any apprehension on the part of council members might also encourage them to restrain madcap tendencies.
How often does a council member need to be rescued by a bodyguard anyway? It never seems to happen, which rather suggests that the money in the security budget could be better spent elsewhere. Council members probably have an exaggerated idea of how much public attention they command. They are not exactly rock stars.
They are not going to lose their tame deputies unless they take the initiative themselves, however, and such a self-denying ordinance is not in the politician's nature.
Council members are, however, keen to prevent any waste of money by others, as they have shown in their determination to ensure that Cantrell repays the city the $30,000 she ran up in illicit airplane upgrades. She at first refused but now says she will comply.
Cantrell is not only willing to squander the taxpayers’ money, but evidently thinks of herself as a rock star. Her habit, when travelling either in this country or abroad, has been to ride upfront in splendid isolation while leaving her retinue to rough it in coach.
On one trip to Washington last year, her NOPD bodyguard Robert Monlyn joined her in first class. Not many cops get such deluxe treatment; deputies looking after council members must be green with envy.
By spending so much time in foreign parts where nobody will recognize her on the street, Cantrell certainly reduces the risk of meeting an aggrieved constituent. She has also attempted to justify her preference for premium seats as a security measure, rather than self-indulgence, although this always was the most baffling of excuses.
If there were any risk involved in international travel, perhaps it would make more sense to stay home with her security detail in close attendance. New Orleans could certainly rub along without a mayor who flies to France and Switzerland to sign sister city deals while carjackers roam our streets.
Email James Gill at gill504nola@gmail.com.