“No one wanted to stand in the way of this bully mayor that we have that’s arrogant and narcissistic,” said Newell Normand this week in the wake of NOPD officer Jeffrey Vappie being reinstated to Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s Executive Protection Team.
“So, congratulations, Mayor, because you probably just added another five years to the consent decree,” he said referring to the federal consent decree the city’s police force is under.
Vappie was the subject of a New Orleans Police Department Public Integrity Bureau investigation. This investigation found that Vappie violated policy by reporting an 18-hour work day and spending “numerous hours” alone with the mayor at a city-owned apartment.
“The New Orleans Police Department's (NOPD) practice is to return officers to their original duties once appropriate disciplinary action has been administered,” the mayor said in a statement Thursday afternoon. “Consistent with this long-standing NOPD protocol, Officer Jeffrey Vappie has resumed his assignment to Executive Protection.”
However, federal police monitors said that the investigation was not thorough.
“My stand on the consent decree is that the judge and the monitors continue to focus and stay in their lane,” said Cantrell.
In addition to criticizing the mayor, Normand said he is disappointed in interim Police Chief Michelle Woodfork.
“Interim Chief Michelle Woodfork is not worthy of being the NOPD chief,” he said. “Not now. Not ever." When I interviewed Woodfork about this investigation, she played fast and loose with the facts. She plead ignorance about a whole lot of things.”
Normand has inspired recall efforts related to Cantrell – who first took office in 2018 – in the past, and the mayor has been criticized for travel spending, and poor leadership. Even so, she was reelected in 2021 and her term ends in 2026.
“We talked about what the outcome would be for the following three years. We got another two and a half years of this failed leadership,” Normand said. “Don’t think for a moment that it can't get worse. I’m fairly confident it will.”
Listen to his full breakdown of the current Cantrell situation here.
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