Mistrust in law enforcement complicates the search for the New Orleans jail escapees

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — As authorities scour New Orleans for escapees from an audacious jailbreak, they are also confronting entrenched mistrust in law enforcement and the criminal justice system.

Nearly a week after 10 inmates yanked open a faulty cell door inside a city jail and moved the toilet to squeeze through a hole, five remain on the lam. The police superintendent has said most of the fugitives were likely still in the city as more than 200 law enforcement personnel work to find them.

Complicating efforts is a history of misconduct and racial bias against Black people by city police, a state police record of excessive force, and a jail system found to violate constitutional rights.

Officials raised concerns that the men are receiving help from the community after two people were booked Wednesday on accessory charges and a third was booked Thursday. Authorities have offered $20,000 in rewards for tips leading to the arrest of the fugitives, many of whom were charged with or convicted of violent offenses including murder.

“If we feel like the law enforcement was here to help us, we would help them,” said Mario Westbrook, 48. He realized only after the arrest of escapee Dkenan Dennis that he had unknowingly spoken with the fugitive that day outside a corner store.

Westbrook compared the rush to capture Dennis near Westbrook's home with the often hourslong law enforcement response times in his neighborhood in New Orleans East, a long-marginalized stretch of the majority-Black city.

“Our community, the police come back here, they have no respect for us as human beings," Westbrook said.

While dropping off a package near where police had cordoned off streets before capturing escapee Corey Boyd, delivery driver Brandy Peters, 36, said she was surprised authorities caught anyone "because normally crime here goes unsolved.”

“If you ask me, they lean more toward the French Quarter area, protecting and serving there more, making sure that when people come from out of town, that’s where they are at,” she said of law enforcement.

Many residents, exasperated with what they see as the incompetence of city governance, are mocking the outrageous escape. Local clothing store Dirty Coast, a reliable barometer of the city’s mood, is even selling a T-shirt based on the inmates’ taunt of “To Easy LoL” written above the hole where they escaped.

In a statement to The Associated Press, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill described law enforcement as doing “an amazing job in building trust and relationships in the communities they serve" and working to apprehend “violent and dangerous” escapees.

The New Orleans Police Department, which tells the public it has transformed, referred questions to Louisiana State Police, saying it is leading the search.

The agency “continues to work diligently on improving our relationship with our communities," state police spokesman Lt. Jared Sandifer wrote in an email. He added that “all residents are encouraged to cooperate with law enforcement” to capture the fugitives.

The Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, which runs the jail, did not respond to requests for comment. But Sheriff Susan Hutson said in a statement earlier this week that she is committed to “protecting our deputies, protecting the public, and restoring trust in a justice system that must work for everyone.”

Louisiana lawmakers are considering legislation to require sheriffs to immediately notify state and local law enforcement and the public of an escape because of questions about how long that took after the New Orleans jailbreak.

By all accounts, the New Orleans Police Department has seen drastic improvement over the past decade.

It has been subject to what the city called “the nation’s most expansive” federal oversight plan since the U.S. Justice Department found evidence of racial bias, misconduct and a culture of impunity. It was one of the first major police forces in the U.S. to implement body cameras.

But residents are five times as likely to hold a negative view of city police as a positive one, a 2024 survey by the New Orleans Crime Coalition found.

Some still recall the bullet-riddled early 1990s, when officers were often the very criminals preying on the city. Dozens of officers were arrested for bank robbery, rape, auto theft and other crimes as New Orleans led the country in police brutality complaints.

The low point was arguably 1994, when New Orleans recorded an unprecedented 421 homicides and saw the patrolman-ordered execution of a young woman, Kim Groves, who was escapee Derrick Groves' grandmother.

Years later, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, 20 officers were charged in a series of civil rights investigations. Officers shot and killed two unarmed people and wounded four others on the Danziger Bridge in 2005 before orchestrating a cover-up.

City Councilmember Freddie King III lamented during a public meeting this week that several escapees were first locked up as teenagers and remained entangled in the criminal justice system as adults.

“Are we doing enough as a society, as a city, to ensure that our young, specifically Black men, don’t end up in jail?” he said.

For more than a decade, New Orleans' jail had been subject to federal monitoring intended to improve conditions.

Security problems and violence persisted even after the Orleans Justice Center opened in 2015, replacing a decaying prison with its own string of escapes and deaths.

“There’s bad blood and history of bad blood toward Orleans Parish incarceration systems,” said Stella Cziment, the independent police monitor of New Orleans.

Cziment also observed that residents may be “reluctant” to work with Louisiana State Police, which operates with a heavy hand in the city, including carrying out sweeps of homeless encampments.

The agency has a history of excessive force, detailed earlier this year in a scathing U.S. Justice Department report. On Wednesday, the Justice Department announced it was “retracting” the Biden administration’s findings of constitutional violations.

And this month, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed a directive to allow the state’s law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration law.

“I think in this current political climate, people might want to think twice before putting themselves in a situation where they are unnecessarily interacting with police because our civil liberties may not be respected,” said Toni Jones, chair of New Orleans for Community Oversight of Police, a grassroots police accountability network.

Tyler Cross, who lives in the St. Roch neighborhood where a SWAT team unsuccessfully sought a fugitive, sees the jailbreak as indicative of "significant systemic issues” with the city’s law enforcement and criminal justice system.

“It’s almost like a joke, which kind of speaks to how people feel about the police in this area,” Cross said. “The whole situation is just kind of ridiculous.”

Westbrook, the New Orleans East resident, said police have been “very active” in his neighborhood since the escape.

“They're looking for somebody for real, so you can't call it harassment,” Westbrook said. “But we still taking the bite of it in the backend.”

—-

Mustian reported from New York. Associated Press writer Hallie Golden in Seattle also contributed.

This combo from photos provided by Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office shows from left top: Dkenan Dennis, Gary C Price, Robert Moody, Kendell Myles, Corey E Boyd. Bottom from left: Lenton Vanburen Jr, Jermaine Donald, Antonine T Massey, Derrick D. Groves, and Leo Tate Sr. (Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office via AP)

Residents watch as police pursue a fugitive that escaped from a New Orleans jail, Tuesday, May 20, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Louisiana state police enter a house on North Galvez street as they pursue a fugitive that escaped from a New Orleans jail, Tuesday, May 20, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Mario Westbrook sits on his porch, May 21, 2025, in New Orleans East, where he says the community has long had negative experiences with law enforcement. (AP Photo/Jack Brook)

U.S. forces have boarded another oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea. The announcement was made Friday by the U.S. military. The Trump administration has been targeting sanctioned tankers traveling to and from Venezuela.

The pre-dawn action was carried out by U.S. Marines and Navy, taking part in the monthslong buildup of forces in the Caribbean, according to U.S. Southern Command, which declared “there is no safe haven for criminals” as it announced the seizure of the vessel called the Olina.

Navy officials couldn’t immediately provide details about whether the Coast Guard was part of the force that took control of the vessel as has been the case in the previous seizures. A spokesperson for the U.S. Coast Guard said there was no immediate comment on the seizure.

The Olina is the fifth tanker that has been seized by U.S. forces as part of a broader effort by Trump’s administration to control the distribution of Venezuela’s oil products globally following the U.S. ouster of President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid.

The latest:

Richard Grenell, president of the Kennedy Center, says a documentary film about first lady Melania Trump will make its premiere later this month, posting a trailer on X.

As the Trumps prepared to return to the White House last year, Amazon Prime Video announced a year ago that it had obtained exclusive licensing rights for a streaming and theatrical release directed by Brett Ratner.

Melania Trump also released a self-titled memoir in late 2024.

Some artists have canceled scheduled Kennedy Center performances after a newly installed board voted to add President Donald Trump’s to the facility, prompting Grenell to accuse the performers of making their decisions because of politics.

Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum says that she has asked her foreign affairs secretary to reach out directly to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio or Trump regarding comments by the American leader that the U.S. cold begin ground attacks against drug cartels.

In a wide-ranging interview with Fox News aired Thursday night, Trump said, “We’ve knocked out 97% of the drugs coming in by water and we are going to start now hitting land, with regard to the cartels. The cartels are running Mexico. It’s very sad to watch.”

As she has on previous occasions, Sheinbaum downplayed the remarks, saying “it is part of his way of communicating.” She said she asked her Foreign Affairs Secretary Juan Ramón de la Fuente to strengthen coordination with the U.S.

Sheinbaum has repeatedly rebuffed Trump’s offer to send U.S. troops after Mexican drug cartels. She emphasizes that there will be no violation of Mexico’s sovereignty, but the two governments will continue to collaborate closely.

Analysts do not see a U.S. incursion in Mexico as a real possibility, in part because Sheinbaum’s administration has been doing nearly everything Trump has asked and Mexico is a critical trade partner.

Trump says he wants to secure $100 billion to remake Venezuela’s oil infrastructure, a lofty goal going into a 2:30 meeting on Friday with executives from leading oil companies. His plan rides on oil producers being comfortable in making commitments in a country plagued by instability, inflation and uncertainty.

The president has said that the U.S. will control distribution worldwide of Venezuela’s oil and will share some of the proceeds with the country’s population from accounts that it controls.

“At least 100 Billion Dollars will be invested by BIG OIL, all of whom I will be meeting with today at The White House,” Trump said Friday in a pre-dawn social media post.

Trump is banking on the idea that he can tap more of Venezuela’s petroleum reserves to keep oil prices and gasoline costs low.

At a time when many Americans are concerned about affordability, the incursion in Venezuela melds Trump’s assertive use of presidential powers with an optical spectacle meant to convince Americans that he can bring down energy prices.

Trump is expected to meet with oil executives at the White House on Friday.

He hopes to secure $100 billion in investments to revive Venezuela’s oil industry. The goal rides on the executives’ comfort with investing in a country facing instability and inflation.

Since a U.S. military raid captured former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, Trump has said there’s a new opportunity to use the country’s oil to keep gasoline prices low.

The full list of executives invited to the meeting has not been disclosed, but Chevron, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips are expected to attend.

Attorneys general in five Democratic-led states have filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration after it said it would freeze money for several public benefit programs.

The Trump administration has cited concerns about fraud in the programs designed to help low-income families and their children. California, Colorado, Minnesota, Illinois and New York states filed the lawsuit Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The lawsuit asks the courts to order the administration to release the funds. The attorneys general have called the funding freeze an unconstitutional abuse of power.

Iran’s judiciary chief has vowed decisive punishment for protesters, signaling a coming crackdown against demonstrations.

Iranian state television reported the comments from Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei on Friday. They came after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei criticized Trump’s support for the protesters, calling Trump’s hands “stained with the blood of Iranians.”

The government has shut down the internet and is blocking international calls. State media has labeled the demonstrators as “terrorists.”

The protests began over Iran’s struggling economy and have become a significant challenge to the government. Violence has killed at least 50 people, and more than 2,270 have been detained.

Trump questions why a president’s party often loses in midterm elections and suggests voters “want, maybe a check or something”

Trump suggested voters want to check a president’s power and that’s why they often deliver wins for an opposing party in midterm elections, which he’s facing this year.

“There’s something down, deep psychologically with the voters that they want, maybe a check or something. I don’t know what it is, exactly,” he said.

He said that one would expect that after winning an election and having “a great, successful presidency, it would be an automatic win, but it’s never been a win.”

Hiring likely remained subdued last month as many companies have sought to avoid expanding their workforces, though the job gains may be enough to bring down the unemployment rate.

December’s jobs report, to be released Friday, is likely to show that employers added a modest 55,000 jobs, economists forecast. That figure would be below November’s 64,000 but an improvement after the economy lost jobs in October. The unemployment rate is expected to slip to 4.5%, according to data provider FactSet, from a four-year high of 4.6% in November.

The figures will be closely watched on Wall Street and in Washington because they will be the first clean readings on the labor market in three months. The government didn’t issue a report in October because of the six-week government shutdown, and November’s data was distorted by the closure, which lasted until Nov. 12.

FILE - President Donald Trump dances as he walks off stage after speaking to House Republican lawmakers during their annual policy retreat, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)