At one community meeting this week designed to get input from New Orleans citizens regarding the budget presented by mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration, a woman asked Cantrell if she’d be willing to cut some of the New Orleans Police Department’s budget and divert it to other city departments that may be struggling. Mayor Cantrell quickly said no, emphasizing that she is focused on making sure public safety, and thus the NOPD, will be fully funded for the next fiscal year. The mayor is making a concerted effort to loudly voice her support for the city’s diminishing police force after very criticism that she didn’t seem to be engaged in addressing a growing crime rate in the city and the growing number of officers leaving the police force. Mayor Cantrell made it a point to let the public and the press know that she cancelled a trip to Asia to “embed” with the NOPD.
For a week, she attended roll calls, met with officers, and collected their input. Mayor Cantrell emerged from that embed and held a news conference last week where she detailed some policy changes and initiatives aimed at retaining a hobbled staff and boost morale that could also be described as hobbled. Some current and former members of the NOPD whom I’ve spoken with over the past three weeks say the mayor’s suggested strategy is focused on the wrong the issues. I profiled some of their concerns and why they left the department in a previous story. In this follow up story, we’ll examine the plans the Cantrell administration has for shoring up the police department and why some members of law enforcement say parts of those plans are tone deaf.
