The New Orleans City Council will fund the New Orleans Police Department's efforts to recruit and retain officers, but that money comes with a catch.
During Thursday's city council meeting, council members adopted a resolution ordering a mid-year review of the NOPD's recruitment and retainment practices.
"We will be moving forward with millions of dollars toward incentives to retain and recruit New Orleans police officers," Council president Helena Moreno said, adding that the council wants a robust check-in phase to make sure the NOPD's efforts are working. "The last thing we want to do is continue to spend money if it's not effective."
Council vice president J. P. Morrell said the incentives were approved by the Civil Service Board without the council's input.
"I'm very disappointed regarding the lack of missed opportunities in which communication with this council and with actual officers could have resolved a lot of these issues," Morrell said. "If I were drafting this package, I would have put a tremendous focus on lateral hires and getting old officers back instead of getting recruits."
City chief administrative officer Gilbert Montaño says he's all for the review.
"Recruitment and retention are vital pieces, but one of the things that I appreciate that's also in the motion is some tracking and conversations on how the evolution of the policing is being redeployed as it relates to civilianization," Montaño told council members.
Morrell says no matter how much money the city government throws at the officer problem, nothing will change until leaders listen to officers who are on the force now or who left the force. According to Morrell, officer complaints about cronyism and nepotism prove that money's not the answer. He says a new superintendent is.
"You can repair the hull of the Titanic over and over, but if the captain keeps driving it into an iceberg, nothing is going to change," Morrell said.
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