The NOPD today held a roundtable discussion on police reform.
Chief Shaun Ferguson said the department is committed to transparency and accountability in making reforms to move forward based on changing community standards and expectations.
Ferguson says the reforms already made have been successful.
"Our officers are now better equipped and better educated," the chief said.
He talked about how use of force incidents by NOPD have declined under changes made through the federal consent decree.
"I would ask the men and women to take a bow," he applauded. "You have a department that has been leading the way with constitutional policing."
The chief stressed that they are not done reforming, despite all of the progress they have made.
"There is always room for improvement," he said.
Ferguson warned that defunding the NOPD would take away his department's ability to pay for things like body worn cameras.
"This would take away our ability to be transparent."
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell was asked about some forces across the country seeing defections amid public protests against cops.
She said the NOPD has only had one officer resign.
"They show up and they show out, meaning they do the job," Cantrell said of the New Orleans Police force. "That has been again demonstrated throughout the past several weeks, and not only that, but with COVID."
The mayor explained what happened with the one cop who did quit.
"We did lose one officer who resigned in the aftermath of the just the protests, and she just indicated that she didn't want to be a police officer anymore, and that's okay," she said. "That's something that we welcome too, the self reflection. It's a tough job."
Watch the entire roundtable:
