UR TV CAST

About 80 per cent of the pick-ups so far have been African Americans, 7 per cent Asians, 6 per cent Hispanic and 7 per cent white. African Americans make up 65 per cent of the New Orleans population.Cooper gets back in the car. “The guy on the ground was a known drug dealer.” His breathing is heavy from exertion “We found 15 bags of crack and a handgun. We’re taking him in.” I spot four other young men being led to police cars “Those are all curfew violators It’s gone 11pm and all of them are under 16 One is only 12 In the past, we would have just told them to go home. I ain’t going to just hang out with my grandma.”Around 80 per cent of curfew violators have come from single-parent families. “Look,” he replies, “I know guys who trade, but they’re just friends. Why shouldn’t I spend time with them?” I ask why he’s out after curfew “My mom’s out of town.

“Look at that, man,” Benny says, as the curfew officers help to suppress the prone suspect. “That’s police brutality.”I ask Benny if he has been involved with drugs. It appears that somebody is taking a beating in the middle of the street. As we get closer, Cooper identifies the somebody as a suspect. The blows are coming from a female detective wielding a police radio.Cooper and Moore pile out of the car, leaving Benny inside.

“7-15 we copy – close by! Close by!” Code 1055 signals that an officer needs assistance, at which point all available cars race to the scene We are there in seconds. “1055, 1055 – corner of Lafayette and Broad, 1055.” Cooper throws the wheel right and accelerates. “If we get that far, the parent usually gets a fine plus compulsory counselling.”The police radio suddenly lets out a high-pitched shriek An urgent voice cries out. That’s what happened last time Benny was up – his mom showed after nine hours. So we issued her a summons for neglect.” This means she has to appear in family court. “We have taken every precaution to protect constitutional rights.

But we will continue to defend our right to safety with every ounce of energy.”Back on the streets, Frank Cooper and his partner, William Moore, are driving Benny to the curfew centre. “Once he’s there, his mother has six hours to collect him,” says Cooper “If she don’t make the deadline, she’s in trouble. “The ultimate civil liberty is the right to feel secure in our own homes, to feel safe on the streets,” he says. He calls the curfew “forced responsibility” but denies that the measure is repressive.

Too many of the city’s children are already dead.”When the curfew was introduced, Morial took some heat. “I was accused of being an Uncle Tom, of oppressing my own people. But my people support this.” Morial is a black civil rights lawyer who for three years was secretary of the Louisiana branch of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). “When I took office, New Orleans had an out-of-control crime problem,” says Morial as he strides around his City Hall office. “Come and take a look at this.” He picks up a letter from a parent. It thanks the police for picking up her son, for making her take more responsibility with her children “We may have saved a child here.