He Smoked Meth on Camera and Came Back to Work. Here’s What Leadership Missed.

by: Chief Scott Hughes

The Case That Says It All

Former NOPD Officer Maurice Bailey joined the department in September 2022. Fifteen months later, his own body-worn camera captured him smoking meth while driving a patrol car through New Orleans East.

Bailey later admitted his drug use began after a life-threatening “Signal 108” call in September 2023. He said he turned to meth to “keep up” with the workload.

The footage wasn’t uncovered by a complaint; it surfaced when a sergeant conducting a random body-cam audit clicked on the video. Bailey was immediately pulled from duty, tested positive, and suspended.

Civil Service rules demanded due process, so NOPD issued a 7-pay-period suspension (roughly 10 weeks) and ordered mandatory counseling. He was reinstated in May 2024. A month later, he tested positive again and resigned.

That’s not a failure of one officer. That’s a failure of leadership.

Policy Won’t Save You

Modern policing is drowning in directives, some of which were written in response to a single person’s mistake years ago.

Every agency has them: “Scott’s Policy.” “Shelly’s Rule.” “The Thompson Directive.”

But you can have all the policies in the world, and look at what happened here.
A camera caught a cop smoking meth in uniform, and he still came back to work.

Policies are essential, but they’re not leadership. The difference becomes apparent when the signs start flashing and no one intervenes.

The Signs Were There

By the time an officer is caught doing something this extreme, the warning signs have been flashing for a while.

After the September 2023 “Signal 108,” NOPD policy required a critical incident debrief. Bailey attended, but no supervisor followed up with a one-on-one wellness check in the eleven weeks before the meth video.

That’s not bad luck, that’s a breakdown in the chain of command.

In 2023, NOPD logged 1,847 critical-incident debriefs. Only 14% had documented 30-day follow-ups.

Behavior like this doesn’t appear overnight; it develops over time. Engaged supervision usually sees it coming.

Ironically, the department discovered the truth only because one sergeant did their job.
If accountability depends on luck, that’s not a personnel problem, it’s a leadership problem.

Second Chances and Hard Truths

People argue that everyone deserves a second chance. Maybe so, but not without accountability.

The PIB report shows Bailey missed three counseling sessions post-reinstatement. He was marked as a “no-show,” but no one escalated the issue.

Leadership isn’t just what you can do; it’s what you choose to do within the rules.
No rule stopped a captain from pulling Bailey aside once a week.
No policy banned a mentor from checking in when red flags appeared, such as missed shifts and no-shows.

We can’t preach accountability to the public and ignore it in our own ranks.
Second chances are earned through ownership and effort, not granted by habit.

Leadership Requires Courage

Accountability isn’t about punishment; it’s about protecting the profession.

When misconduct goes unanswered, the unspoken message is clear: standards are optional.

It’s easy to manage in black and white: to follow the policy, check the box, and stay out of trouble.
But real leadership lives in the grey, where decisions demand courage, judgment, and moral clarity.
That’s where policing operates every day, and where credibility is earned.

Leaders who know their people, who ask the hard questions, and who intervene early don’t just prevent scandals; they preserve trust.

Final Thought

Because leadership isn’t about paperwork, it’s about presence.

This case isn’t about meth.
It’s about minutes.

The three minutes a sergeant didn’t take to ask, “You okay after that 108?”
The five minutes a lieutenant skipped to review Bailey’s no-shows.

Start there.

Open the body-cam audit folder.
Pull one random video this week, not for discipline, but for conversation.

Because the next Maurice Bailey is already on your roster.
The camera will catch him.
Will you notice first?