A spokesman for Mayor Latoya Cantrell said the city “cannot promise” that there won’t be further parade route shortenings due to NOPD staffing issues. After Chewbacchus was hit with a short-notice route reduction, that’s led to fears that other parades like this weekend’s Krewe du Vieux will suffer the same fate.
WWL asked Mardi Gras Guide Publisher Arthur Hardy if he’s heard word that the infamously irreverent krewe will get cut short. He said as of Tuesday there’s been no indication it will have its already shortened route consolidated further, but Chewbacchus was only given a 48-hour notice so there is no guarantee.
Hardy said even if du Vieux and other “pre-season” parades get hit with last-second route reductions he’d be shocked if the primary parades later this month were further shortened.
“There’s a big difference between these pre-season parades that are manned by off-duty policemen who volunteer for off-duty details, and the big parades in the regular season that police are required to work,” said Hardy who added that any parade rolling on or after the Friday before the Friday before Fat Tuesday should be safe.
While these “pre-season” parades aren’t guaranteed police protection, the upside of being outside of the traditional Mardi Gras schedule is that they get a lot more artistic freedom.
“That’s why some of these satirical krewes like du Vieux can get away with some of their themes that are rather bawdy, or raunchy, or sexy, or whatever you want to call it,” said Hardy.
The crux of the issue seems to be that there are just not enough NOPD officers to take on the current Mardi Gras demand, but do parades actually need as many cops to manage them as the city claims?
According to a city data analyst per capita there are just as many NOPD officers in New Orleans as there were in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, a time when parades ran all over the city. These days parades are much more consolidated than they were in previous decades, but they continued to be further consolidated by city leaders who say it’s because of a lack of police. Hardy said there’s a reason why more cops are needed to manage Mardi Gras than in the past.
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“The parades have grown in size and popularity with the amount of riders, the amount of throws, the amount of floats, entirely different than it was decades ago,” said Hardy.