New Orleans's new mayor has asked the US government to investigate the city's scandal-plagued police department.
Mitch Landrieu, who took office on Monday, said the force had been described as "one of the worst" in the country.
In a letter to the US attorney general, he noted officers had been implicated in violent crimes including rape.
New Orleans is struggling to rebuild nearly five years after the devastation that followed Hurricane Katrina.
A spokesman for the US justice department civil rights division, which typically handles investigations into law enforcement agencies, said the department would consider Mr Landrieu's request and determine if any action was appropriate.
New Orleans police officers are currently the subject of at least eight federal civil rights investigations.
In one case, three officers have pleaded guilty to covering up the police shooting death of two refugees fleeing the floods that inundated New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
And earlier this week, a New Orleans officer was suspended from duty following his arrest on a domestic violence charge.
"Although most sworn [New Orleans Police Department] officers honour their commitment to protect and serve each day, an independent investigation is needed," Mr Landrieu wrote on Wednesday to US Attorney General Eric Holder in Washington.
"It is clear that nothing short of a complete transformation is necessary and essential to ensure safety for the citizens of New Orleans."
However, in remarks to the local Times-Picayune newspaper, Capt Henry Dean, president of the local police union, questioned the need for federal oversight, noting that Mr Landrieu had already pledged to co-operate in a local inquiry.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8665165.stm
New Orleans police, not helping..
New Orleans police, not helping..
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”