New Orleans Police Department is in a stranglehold of external oversight leaving little room for being proactive. This scarcity of proactivity is exploited daily by criminals in captive communities.

Citizens on patrol are acutely aware of this drought and list it as part of why they hit the pavement. A 40-year high in low retention and surplus of violent offenders mean citizens on patrol, like less adventurous peers, can’t assume fast police response to 911 calls. Combined with external pressure on case management, citizens on patrol realize local partners in blue are less willing to act on complaints brought by the public. The incentive skews now toward not investigating complaints to avoid career ending outside inquiry.

Such sobering restrictions are part of the landscape for citizens patrol amid depolicing. Some ask, what good is being extra eyes and ears for a department with its hands tied by red tape?

-Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, RLSH. #CapBlackStreetPatrol creator. @nadraenzi on twitter.