2017 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 76
BY SENATOR CARTER
A RESOLUTION
To express the sincere condolences of the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana upon the
death of Richard Pennington, former New Orleans police superintendent.
WHEREAS, it is with deep regret and profound sorrow that the citizens of Louisiana
and the members of the Louisiana Senate have learned of the passing of Richard Pennington,
at age seventy, on May 4, 2017 in Georgia; and
WHEREAS, he was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, the son of a railroad waiter and
a barbershop and pool hall owner, and when he was in the eighth grade, his family moved
to Gary, Indiana; and
WHEREAS, Pennington joined the United States Air Force after high school and did
a tour of duty in Vietnam; and
WHEREAS, upon his return to the states, he settled on a career in law enforcement
and rose quickly up the ranks of the Washington, D.C. Police Department to assistant chief;
and
WHEREAS, at forty-seven, Richard Pennington moved south to head the New
Orleans police force, taking over as police superintendent at the height of the mid-1990s
murder epidemic and fulfilled a promise to slash the city's homicide rate by half; and
WHEREAS, hailed for cleaning up a corruption-plagued force that saw two New
Orleans police officers sent to death row, Pennington capped off a triumphant eight-year
tenure as police superintendent with an unsuccessful bid to take the place of his boss, Marc
Morial, as mayor in 2002; and
WHEREAS, soon thereafter, he left New Orleans to become police chief in Atlanta,
a job he held until his retirement, following a stroke in 2010; and
WHEREAS, according to former Mayor Morial, "Without question he was my
partner in this effort to transform the New Orleans Police Department in a historic way. I
think history will record him as the very best police superintendent in the history of the city,
given where we started. It was a dramatic transformation"; and
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WHEREAS, in 1994, Chief Pennington's first year, New Orleans saw 421 murders,
a high-water mark for the city; however, by 1999, the city recorded only 159 murders, a drop
of sixty-two percent and the city also experienced a precipitous drop in major crimes; and
WHEREAS, according to Mayor Morial, "He was unflinching in his willingness to
discipline police officers for violations of codes of conduct"; and
WHEREAS, Pennington was a transformational leader and agent of change who
instituted a series of reforms within the department as he decentralized the police department
and made it closer to the community and handed more authority to district commanders; and
WHEREAS, he strengthened the NOPD Public Integrity Bureau, outlawing off-duty
detail work at bars and strip clubs and prohibiting the hiring of people with criminal records
and implemented the crime trend monitoring system known as COMSTAT; and
WHEREAS, Richard Pennington was held in high esteem by police officers who
trained under him, and fond recollections of good times will forever remain in the hearts and
minds of those who knew him best.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby extend sincere condolences to the family, friends, and former employees of
retired New Orleans police superintendent Richard Pennington and does hereby offer best
hopes and prayers for comfort to those who mourn his passing.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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