Maya Rodriguez / Eyewitness News
NEW ORLEANS-- One by one, the 16 police commanders of the New Orleans Police Department accepted their new positions within the department. It is a reorganization that Supt. Ronal Serpas said will streamline the leadership of the NOPD.
"We have now recast the net for senior leadership," Serpas said.
It is a change from previous civil service rules, which restricted what the chief could do with his leadership team.
"It should accelerate the reforms and the vision that this superintendent has for this department. So, if any of these 16 individuals don't roll in the same direction, the superintendent has the latitude to remove them," said Rafael Goyeneche of the Metropolitan Crime Commission.
Some of the changes announced on Thursday include new commanders at the Fifth and Seventh districts. The Fifth District in particular fared poorly in a recent survey about how people felt about the department.
"I have long said that I was not satisfied with what I was seeing in some parts of our community with our crime fighting response and I thought it was time for a change," Serpas said.
Recent U.S. Justice Department reports about the department also painted a harsh picture of the NOPD's leadership in previous years.
"If you look at the DOJ report carefully, in between every line is a failure of leadership as a group between Katrina and 2010 -- a failure of leadership as a group," Serpas said.
Ben McLeish lives in the St. Roch neighborhood, within the Fifth District. He said crime in his neighborhood has been on the rise in recent weeks.
"It's been pretty rough, to be honest," he said. "I had my house broken into, my car broken into. My neighbors were held up at gunpoint recently."
McLeish said he feels it will take more than just police to tackle the area's crime problem. However, he, and some of this neighbors, said the superintendent's changes are a step forward.
"I guess I can do no more than applaud him for what he may be trying to do," said Munson Fletcher, who also lives in St. Roch.
"It's not one thing, but if all the things are firing on the same cylinder, that really helps bring it up," McLeish said.
While the commanders of the Fifth and Seventh districts were changed, Serpas said commanders at the department's six other districts will remain in place for now.
