The Irish Channel St. Patrick's Day parade is set for this weekend in New Orleans, but as of now, there are not enough police officers to patrol the route.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Mayoral Spokesperson Beau Tidwell says the city is weighing options including possibly shortening the uptown route to offset the NOPD manpower problem.
“Right now, NOPD has 1,024 officers. That has an effect regardless of anything else we want to do or not do. We have to work with the numbers we have,” said Tidwell.
Tidwell says the mayor’s office hopes to know by Friday if the full parade can roll on Saturday.
Tidwell says the problem comes with not enough police officers signing up to work the parade route.
“We are waiting to see how things shake out in terms of volunteers for the detail shifts. The last time I looked there were shifts still remaining to be claimed. Hopefully, we will hit the number we need to do this safely,” said Tidwell.
Meanwhile, everything is a go for the Metairie Road St. Patrick's Day parade in Metairie on Sunday.
