With murder, shootings, armed robberies and carjackings at crisis levels in New Orleans, the mayor is releasing a plan to battle the surging violence.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya says she has been attending 7:00am and 7:00pm roll call meetings with NOPD officers over the past several days to show support for the force. She says it came after a sudden increase in cops fleeing the force recently on top of a steady stream of resignations and retirements over the past several years.
"They want to be treated with respect and dignity," the mayor said about her conversations with the remaining cops.
To that end, Cantrell says she will be holding more ceremonies to recognize and award officers.
"We are here to break the log jam as it relates to promotions," she also promised. That came, she said, in response to complaints about officers being held back from deserved advancement.
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The mayor says they are preparing to roll out new police vehicles as well, with the "bells and whistles" cops need to effectively do their jobs.
Cantrell also pledged to hire more civilian employees to help police handle duties that do not always require a commissioned officer.
Cantrell released this list of changes:
She noted that many of the rank and file she talked to also stressed the constraints the ongoing consent decrees presents. She said it is "handcuffing them."
Her top concern, she said, is police officers' ability to protect themselves under the consent decree.
Her administration has asked the US Department of Justice to terminate the decree.
Meanwhile, Cantrell said she and the police chief are looking at reforming the NOPD Public Integrity Bureau in the wake of allegations of abuse of power and misuse of authority.
The mayor called on everyone in the community to support the New Orleans Police Department.
"It takes all of us to reassure all of the men and women that they matter... it feels like service is under attack," Cantrell said.
She says people have to stop criticizing the cops.
"When you dog out your own people, it does have an impact," the mayor insisted.
"Our priorities are retention, recruitment, resources," Chief Shaun Ferguson said he has told the men and women of the NOPD during visits with every police district and bureau.
He echoed the mayor's comments about officer feedback indicating they feel under appreciated, overworked and in need of help protecting themselves from dangerous criminals.
Both the mayor and chief also lashed out at the media for covering "negative stories" about police, without covering the "great things" officers are doing both on and off duty.
"Give them the dignity and respect they deserve," Ferguson urged of the media, public and politicians.
The Metro Crime Commission says there have been some positive crime trends recently in New Orleans, but overall stats show big increases in violence this year and over the past three years.
Here is the latest from the MCC:
-July ended with the lowest monthly homicide count (14) of 2022. By comparison, we had 35 homicides in June of 2022. While even one murder is one too many, this is a significant reduction from what we had been seeing.
-170 YTD homicides in 2022 (+136% since 2019, +43% since 2021)
Nonfatal shooting incidents are down 9% relative to 2021, though still 101% higher than 2019 and 47% higher than 2020
-The combined total of 417 fatal + nonfatal shootings in 2022 is still around 2% higher than the combined 411 fatal + nonfatal shootings in 2021
-Carjacking incidents are holding steady at 8% increase over 2021, 93% increase over 2020, and a 194% increase compared with 2019
-Armed robbery continues to rise – at 335 incidents to date, 2022 has had a 43% increase in armed robbery relative to 2021, a 63% increase relative to 2020, and 31% increase relative to 2019
-July of 2021 had 31 reported armed robbery incidents. In contrast, there were 66 reported armed robberies in July of 2022 - the sharpest increase of any major violent crime type we have seen this summer