NEW ORLEANS — There are 33 candidates to be the next police chief in New Orleans and the successor to Shaun Ferguson will likely come from that group, Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced Thursday.
Ferguson retired in December and Michelle Woodfork has been serving as the acting superintendent in the interim. She is among the candidates for the permanent post.
Cantrell said the executive search is being conducted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
"I welcome this next step and look forward to even more involvement as we move forward in identifying our new police chief. Now that the application process has closed, IACP will conduct the initial screening, including a resume review, internet screening and virtual screening interview, which will provide us with a pool of candidates to become the semi-finalists," said Cantrell in a news release.
The city saw a spike in homicides in 2022, with 265 people killed, the highest total since before Katrina, when the city had a much larger population.
There were also high-profile carjackings and a high number of auto burglaries.
Whomever takes over the reins will find a department struggling to hold onto 900 officers on a force that had traditionally been well over 1,000.