NEW ORLEANS – Supt. Ronal Serpas is making changes in the top leadership of three police districts, naming new commanders for the 3rd, 4th and 7th districts, covering New Orleans East, Algiers and the Lakeview/Lakefront and Gentilly areas.
4th District Commander Heather Kouts is reassigned to Records/Infrastructure Management. Her reassignment comes as the district deals with the high-profile murder on Wednesday of Mike Ainsworth, a man who was fatally shot after trying to stop a carjacking in progress.
NOPD spokeswoman Remi Braden said the reassignment was not prompted by any particular incident but is part of an ongoing evaluation by Serpas and his leadership staff.
3rd District Commander Henry Dean is reassigned to the Special Investigations Division. Dean has been a familiar presence as a Fraternal Order of Police spokesman in recent years. Both he and Kouts were appointed to the new rank of commander when it was established last year.
There is also a new commander in the 7th District, covering New Orleans East. Michael Harrison replaces Denise Miles as commander.
Brian Weiss replaces Kouts as 4th District Commander, covering Algiers. John Thomas is the new 3rd District commander, covering a wide area that includes Lakeview, the Lakefront and Gentilly.
The changes are effective Sunday.
In addition to Weiss, Serpas also appointed two other officers to the post of commander. Kim Williams is commander of the Criminal Investigations Division and Otha Sandifer is named commander of the Police Academy.
“A continual assessment of leadership personnel is a duty I take very seriously,” Serpas said in a statement. “My senior leadership team and I will continue to monitor the performance of the entire department and make changes where necessary to ensure that our neighborhoods are receiving the best policing we can provide.”
