Starting tonight, it's full-on with parades through Fat Tuesday -- unlike last night, parades from now on include floats, marching bands, dance teams, and other walking units. The NOPD laid out its plans to keep things safe -- in this first-ever Special Event Assessment Rating Level One Mardi Gras.
The New Orleans Police Department has already set up a winding course of barricades on the non-parade side of St. Charles Avenue. And NOPD chief Anne Kirkpatrick says the police presence will be visible, with K-9, SWAT team members, and uniformed cops, and some of it invisible.
"We're going to have approximately 100 officers who will be in plain clothes," Kirkpatrick said. "You will not know that they're there, and they will be embedded in the crowds to be watchful."
And yes, they will enforce the city's Mardi Gras rules that prohibit some items on the parade route, she said.
"We're going to follow up on that, particularly these grills, these tents, all of that," she said, "Ya'll, don't put us in a position -- I don't want to be the hard person who comes and enforces this ordinance -- we would just prefer that you don't do it -- but I will!"
The chief said cops will ask people to remove stuff like that, but people who refuse will find themselves afoul of the law.
There will also be drones from NOPD and other law enforcement agencies acting as eyes in the sky. Civilian drones will not be allowed over the parade routes.