As we learn more about the experiences of officers who have left the NOPD, a councilman is once again calling for changes in the department.
At-large councilman J. P. Morrell told WWL's Tommy Tucker that throwing money at the department won't solve any problems. He says fixing the NOPD's woes will require massive changes in who runs the department.
"NOPD operates with a surplus," Morrell said. "It's a leadership issue."
Morrell says the top brass in the NOPD has failed to address and prioritize the concerns of officers to try to keep them on the force.
"It's about having accountability as a department where when things go horrifically wrong rather than having PR guys say, 'There's nothing to see here,' say, 'Yes. This bad thing happened, and here's what we're going to do to fix it,'" Morrell said.
He added that the lack of transparency and accountability in the NOPD is obvious.
"There is this whole idea that the emperor has clothes, and in this case, if the emperor is the leadership in the NOPD, they're buck naked. There's nothing there," Morrell quipped.
Morrell says it's past time for Mayor LaToya Cantrell to seek a new police superintendent from out of town.
"We are past the 'Pennington Moment,'" Morrell said, referring to former NOPD superintendent Richard Pennington, who came to New Orleans from Washington, D. C., in 1994 to oversee reforms in what had been a department filled with corruption. "The 'Pennington Moment' was, I think, at the beginning of this last term to go nationally and find a well-qualified officer, a leader who's not from the city and who's not beholden to all of the issues in the department."
[shortcode-inline-related expand="1" link="/wwl/news/local/serpas-cantrell-not-vocal-visible-in-helping-nopd" headline="Former NOPD Superintendent: Mayor Cantrell not "vocal," "visible" in helping NOPD" image="/media-library/image.jpg?id=64206301"]Morrell says time is of the essence.
"The longer we wait, the fewer officers, (and) the more problematic the department gets, I think there's going to come a point where no one would take the job."
