Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill's investigation into the Bourbon Street terror attack is under way, and Murrill says she's using the blueprint of another investigation she's conducting to guide this inquest.
"I'm looking at it somewhat the same way when I looked at the ankle monitoring situation," Murrill told WWL's Newell Normand.
Murrill says that like the ankle monitoring case, her investigation into the terror attack will be a broad based. She noted that because so many people and so many government agencies are involved, she will have to work methodically.
"I can't control some of those branches of government or necessarily influence them as heavily," Murrill said. "I do have an idea of how I want to kind of start gathering information and evaluating who was involved in the actual planning, not just this year but last year and the year before. I want to look at this in a pretty deep dive so that we can see where the dysfunction is--and the function--and kind of see what needs to change. We've seen a lot of changes put in place right now, but some of that stuff is going to go away. The federal resources are going to revert back to a more normal level. They may come in and surge for certain events, but we have a lot of things going on in New Orleans all the time. We kind of have to look at this with a fresh attitude towards security in New Orleans."
Murrill says she may seek legislative assistance to correct problems she sees with New Orleans's security, just as she will seek new laws to correct the ankle monitoring problem.
"I've just been looking at it in a detailed way, and I've been trying to come up with potential legislative fixes that would help resolve some of the gaps in the process and not lose sight of that vision," Murrill said.
Murrill hopes to release some of her findings by April.
"I'd like some preliminary analysis that I can put out and share before the legislative session goes in," Murrill said.
Murrill is confident her investigation will lead to meaningful answers.
"I do have some optimism and confidence that we will end up in a better place after (the investigation), but we just all have to hunker down and keep working at it and not lose sight of that vision," Murrill said.
