Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams pays a visit to the New Orleans City Council later today to update the governing body on the runaway crime problem.
What will be said or how it will be said remains anybody's guess.
But Williams has talked previously about the crime problem and his department's handling of violent crime.
Last week, Williams took issue with a statement by NOPD Chief Shaun Ferguson:
"The Chief said that he is making the arrest and the NOPD's job ends there. That's just not the way the law and justice works."
But Williams also wanted to take a conciliatory approach toward NOPD and Chief Ferguson:
"This office is focused on finding solutions instead of finger-pointing and blaming."
He also doubled down on his office seeking justice:
"We have not waivered and will not waiver on out commitment to hold people accountable."
Though no one knows which side of Williams we'll see, one observer is giving his take on the meeting.
Former NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas predicts a topic Williams will likely address:
"I don't think Mr. Williams has enough investigators he needs to the work on his side. And we've clearly been seeing a degradation of New Orleans Police Department staffing for 7-or-8 years now that makes it difficult to do it on their side."
Serpas says the City Council needs to own up for their responsibility in the way things are in New Orleans.
"The City Council needs to put some money behind these leaders if they expect to see violent crime in the city reduced."
Serpas feels this is no time to attempt to assign blame; he says the City Council has no one to blame but themselves:
"The City Council has the purse strings, the City Council has the funding. The City Council can determine to give additional funding to the District Attorney so he can hire those District Attorney investigators under his control to do follow up work so they can bring more cases to beyond reasonable doubt level."
We'll see if the council decides to get involved in helping the parish address the crime problem.
