Mardi Gras krewes are already working towards the 2023 celebration. Most of them want to know if there will be enough cops to cover the parades.
Since the end of 2021, the NOPD has shrunk 8.4 percent, according to data from the New Orleans City Council. The city shortened the route for most parades in 2022, and the department has only gotten smaller since then.
It was the question on just about every krewe's mind at Thursday night's meeting of the Mayor's Mardi Gras Advisory Council.
"The city acknowledged the manpower shortage, but everybody wants to know, all the krewe captains, 'where will the parades roll?' But the question's still unanswered," said Mardi Gras Guide publisher Arthur Hardy. "The good news is it's being addressed and it's being acknowledged. The bad news is we don't know any more now than we did before."
Hardy says virtually every krewe expects they will roll on shortened parade routes, like they did in 2022. He says some krewes are looking in to hiring cops from outside New Orleans to help increase public safety manpower.
"There's some efforts being made by some krewes to maybe, if not petition the city, discuss with the city, 'what if we would pay for added security and bring it in from other jurisdictions, would that be allowed, is that even possible?'"
