The New Orleans Chapter of the NAACP is crying foul, accusing the NOPD of racially profiling juveniles in the city.But the police superintendent is defending his department's actions.

Advertisement NAACP calls for DOJ investigation, suggests profiling behind racial skew of NOLA juvenile arrests Statistics show 96 percent of arrested teens are African-American Share Shares Copy Link Copy

The New Orleans Chapter of the NAACP is crying foul, accusing the New Orleans Police Department of racially profiling juveniles in the city.But the police superintendent is defending his department's actions.In the last three years, the NOPD has arrested 2,984 juveniles -- of that, 2,874, or 96 percent are African-Americans.Those are numbers the local NAACP finds hard to believe."I was shocked, it's appalling. If that isn't racial profiling, there is no definition of racial profiling," Morris Reed Sr. said.Reed heads of the New Orleans chapter of NAACP and said his group is now calling on the Department of Justice to investigate."We got to get this corrected and we will do whatever is in our power with the NAACP to see that it's addressed," Reed said.The numbers were obtained by WDSU after they were attached to a letter sent from the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office to every member of the city council, the sheriff, the mayor and head of the Metropolitan Crime Commission.PDF: Letter from DA to New Orleans officialsThe data breaks down crimes committed by juveniles over the last five years.In 2013, 2014 and 2015, it breaks down arrests by race.Last year, records show 956 juveniles were arrested for crimes ranging from murder down to truancy violations.Of that 956, 18 were white, 7 were Hispanic and 930 were black."Someone should be on the hot seat for this in terms of the administration of our criminal justice system," Reed said."There is always more to the story," NOPD Supt. Michael Harrison said.Harrison said, he wants to make one thing clear, his officers are not racially profiling juveniles."We won't buy into any of that -- that we are targeting anybody. Our officers respond to calls and are only stopping people based on the 4th amendment search and seizure where we have a reasonable suspicion to believe a crime was committed, is being committed and is about to be committed," Harrison said.Harrison says when it comes to the arrests made over the last three years, all are above board."On every one of these, we have documentation that probable cause existed and a crime was being committed. We are trying to create a culture where citizens won't commit crimes, certainly we are trying to create a culture where kids won't commit crimes," Harrison said.Reed said the numbers tell a different story, one he now hopes will have different ending."This backs up the problems parents are complaining about -- that kids are being summarily kicked out of school and being arrested by juvenile and police authorities, so we need to correct this problem," Reed said.The numbers sent in the letter also break down the ages of people arrested. In 2015, 22 11-year-olds were arrested, 16 12-year-olds were arrested, and 79 13-year-olds were taken into police custody.