With Mardi Gras approaching, the city of New Orleans, including NOPD, are working on plans to keep large crowds that violate the city's COVID-19 restrictions from forming.
New Orleans Mayor's Office communications director Beau Tidwell says the pandemic guidelines that the city and state have set up work best when everyone buys in to them, and they're trying to convince the public of that.
"At its core, this is a problem that all of us have a stake in, that everyone has to participate in, and that, you know, immediate law enforcement response isn't always the best solution," Tidell said.
But Tidwell says if they have to, enforcement may be the last option if people just refuse to follow the rules.
He says New Orleans Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson is still coming up with the NOPD's Mardi Gras plans, and they have discussed rolling police cars down streets to break up crowds where too many people have gathered, something that happened on occasion in the earlier days of the pandemic.
"That's one of several options that are on the table," said Tidwell. "Speaking to Chief Ferguson about that specific tactic, for lack of a better term, having the cars roll through, that's something that he's looking and maybe something you see come back."
