Thousands of tourists are in town or will be coming to town today and tomorrow for New Year's celebrations and the Sugar Bowl, and the head of the New Orleans Police Department says she and her department are ready for the challenges this weekend will present.
NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick says she and her department are prepared for that influx of tourists. According to Kirkpatrick, all of the department's officers--including Kirkpatrick herself--will be on patrols across the city this weekend.
"I have like a 20-page written-out plan about who's going to go where," Kirkpatrick said. "We require all of our officers to work. It's 100-percent all hands on deck, whether they're out in a district assigned to handle their 911 calls or they're being sent down to the French Quarter as a special assignment. The captains have to be out, the chiefs are going out, and I'm going to be out."
Kirkpatrick noted that a police chief can only lead from behind a desk for so long.
"If the troops out there in the streets, then their chief needs to be out there, too," Kirkpatrick said. "Everybody wants to say these principles about leading from the front, but do you really believe it? If you did, you would be out there."
Kirkpatrick says state police and law enforcement agencies from across the region will assist the NOPD with their patrols this weekend. Kirkpatrick says even through she'll be working, she'll take in as much of the New Year's celebration as she can.
"Throughout the weekend, I will be out and about, and I'm certainly going to enjoy my first New Year's Eve here in New Orleans," Kirkpatrick said. "I'm excited to be part of the community, but also part of the team."
