Crime will be top of the docket of the new-look New Orleans City Council’s first regular meeting today. This comes as the post-2020 surge in murders, shootings, and carjackings has continued into 2022.
Political analyst Clancy DuBos told WWL there is a lot of pressure on the new Council, and its five new members, to find a short-term solution to the crime problem. Because of that, New Orleans Police Superintendant Shaun Ferguson is scheduled to be first up to speak.
“The phones have been ringing off the hook at offices of all of the councilmembers, including the five who are brand new,” said DuBos.
The meeting comes just a day after both Superintendant Ferguson and DA Jason Williams traded barbs and pointed fingers at each other yesterday. Ferguson argued the DAs office was turning into a revolving door, while Williams said the NOPD isn’t clearing enough serious crimes.
“First thing politicians do when something goes wrong is to either run for cover or point the finger elsewhere, and sometimes both,” said DuBos who said crime’s dominance of city talk isn’t good for either of them. “The last thing a politician wants to do is accept responsibility or blame when things go wrong.”
New Orleans’ two top law enforcement officials are at each other’s throats and the Mayor’s recommendations for dealing with the issue have been ambiguous. Could this new council forge a plan that gets everyone in line? Dubos said it’ll have to be done.
“It’s called a criminal justice system for a reason, it has a lot of moving parts, but the parts do not appear to be moving in the same direction,” said DuBos.
The continuation of the post-pandemic surge in these specific and shocking violent crimes is likely to test the resolve of leaders who campaigned with nods to progressive criminal justice reform. Dubos said that could result in the pursuit of immediate solutions, even if it runs contrary to reformist hopes.
“Everybody is for criminal justice reform until they are staring down the barrel of a gun,” said Dubos.
