The NOPD recently graduated a class of new cops, fresh from the academy to the streets, and another class is in training. How many new cops do we need to reverse the losses? More than the city is hiring now.
If NOPD can keep up is current pace, they will hire around 120 to 130 new officers this year. But according to GNO Inc.'s Michael Hecht, part of the NOLA Coalition, it is going to take more.
"We really have to get our hires up to a max of maybe 150," Hecht said, "and bring our attrition from 15 percent down to ten percent."
Hecht says that will reverse the trend of losing cops -- but it will also be a long, slow climb.
"Even under what I think is a fairly optimistic scenario of 150 new officers and attrition at only ten percent, we're still talking about getting out to 2030 before we cross the 1,200 hundred threshold," said Hecht.
On the bright side, he says polls show broad support among New Orleanians for police officers. That, he says, will make recruiting a little easier.
"I think the message to people considering law enforcement in the whole country is come to New Orleans, a unique city, a very special place to work, where our officers are actually appreciated by the local population," said Hecht.
