NEW ORLEANS — Leaders of the New Orleans City Council slammed Mayor LaToya Cantrell and police superintendent Shaun Ferguson on Tuesday, claiming that the administration is more obsessed with appearances on the city's crime problem, rather than safety.
In an interview with WWL-TV's Eric Paulsen, City Council President Helena Moreno and Vice President Jean Paul "JP" Morell said that there has been an effort by Cantrell and Ferguson since the start of the year to "deflect and downplay" the city's crime problem.
There have been more than 140 murders reported in New Orleans in 2022. An unofficial tally showed 31 killings in June - the most in a single month since July 2004. Jeff Asher, the council's public safety consultant said that there have already been more homicides in the last 6 months than in entire years in 2018 and 2019.
On Tuesday, Moreno said that the situation was "a crisis" and that Cantrell and Ferguson "must admit that there is a problem."
"We are number one per capita in murders out of any city in this country right now. So this is a crisis, right now," Moreno said.
Last month, Cantrell acknowledged spiking rates of violence crime, saying it was a top priority for her. She said she refused to blame the New Orleans Police Department for the rising crime, saying that the city needs to take a holistic approach to stopping violence in the streets including prevention, intervention and "treating the root causes."
Moreno said the most pressing issues are the manpower shortage and response times at the NOPD. She said that the council has funded programs to help address those issues, but the city's administration won't act on "low-hanging fruit" opportunities to address crime.
Moreno said that the department is projected to have fewer than 900 police officers by the end of the year. And that total includes recruits, reservists, and ranking officers that may not be patrolling the streets.
Morell said the council funded more than $1 million to increase recruitment but the administration won't sign a memorandum of understanding to start the increased recruitment.
"We have seen time and time again the council will come up with a solution," Morell said. "We passed a multi-point crime plan in February and put it out there, said 'here's the crime plan', and both the mayor and police chief said, 'Not necessary. we have our own plan.'"
Moreno said that the council is willing to fund programs that would allow non-commissioned officers to respond to some traffic crashes, freeing up police officers for other tasks. However, she said that the administration or NOPD will not put out contracts to bid for the "enhanced services."
"We are not seeing the urgency around getting these solutions done," Moreno said.
Morell said the public feels the city is more focused on tourism and the appearance of no crime rather than trying to solve crimes. Morell said the administration is downplaying crime to make it appear that the city does not have a crime problem.
"This weekend is a great example. They were pulling 10-20 officers per district to the French Quarter and CBD during Essence Fest. Now that made Essence Fest the safest place to be in the entire city," Morell said. "When you pull that many officers from all the districts to the Quarter, the rest of the city is less safe, but the tourists are."
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