A half dozen NOPD officers charged with Rape and Child Porn still on force.

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In the last 12 months, more than a half-dozen officers with the New Orleans Police Department have been booked and charged with various crimes.

Watch report

In many of those cases, the officers are placed on what the NOPD refers to as "emergency suspension without pay."

But the WDSU I-Team has learned that type of suspension only lasts so long and some officers charged with serious crimes are back on the job working -- much to the surprise of some.

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What happens to a citizen when hundreds of images of child pornography are found on their computer and phone? Well, if you are a law enforcement officer, the answer is, nothing.

An investigation into the New Orleans Police Department has revealed a disturbing lack of discipline for individuals who’ve been caught and accused of despicable acts.

The residents of a Mandeville neighborhood felt safe knowing that a 16-year veteran of the NOPD, Sgt Bradley Wax lived down their street. However, that would quickly change after Wax was arrested and charged with 38 counts of possessing child pornography.

The Louisiana Attorney General’s office conducted a search on Wax’s personal computer and other electronic devices and found them to be full of explicit photos of young children.

He was obviously fired immediately and not allowed to be a cop any longer, right? Or at the very least he was suspended until the trial, right? Wrong.

WDSU, who carried out the independent investigation, found that Wax was initially suspended but has since returned to work as normal, working in fleet management at the NOPD headquarters.

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NOPD Officer Michael Thomassie was another one. Thomassie was accused and arrested on charges of aggravated rape over a year ago. However, when WDSU investigators went to New Orlean’s 4th district, they found Thomassie currently still working as a cop.

While these officers were initially suspended, as soon as the spotlight moved on, they were silently allowed back across the blue line.

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Apparently it takes the NOPD more than a year to conduct and investigation and find guilt in a man whose iPhone was a pedophile’s paradise.

Of course, everyone, even the vilest of criminals deserves the right to due process. But the double standard here is where the issue arises.

These people claim the responsibility of upholding the law. When they are the ones suspected of violating that law, they should be held to a much higher standard, not a lower one.

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