Crime is on minds of residents this Carnival season
2nd February 2015 · 0 Comments
New Orleans, La. State Police officials reach agreement on trooper support
Drastic times call for drastic measures.
Like posting signs throughout the French Quarter that remind residents, workers and tourists to be ever vigilant about their own safety. As a foreboding sign of the times, the Vieux Carré us bursting with posted signs that read “Caution: Walk in Large Groups. We (heart) N.O.P.D. We Just Need More.”
The Associated Press reported last week that as Fat Tuesday looms on the horizon, many residents are expressing concerns about how the embattled NOPD’s manpower shortage will impact Carnival season and public safety as crowds swell and chaos nd partying reach a feverish pitch this month.
Fat Tuesday is February 17.
While the Landrieu administration has said repeatedly that the NOPD needs 1,600 police officers to keep the city safe, it currently has only about 1,100 with 29 recruits scheduled to complete the force’s six-month training program in March. Although the agency had previously denied Landrieu’s requests to deploy more troopers to New Orleans, the Louisiana State Police are expected to provide additional security during Carnival season.
But with video footage of brazen armed robbers and attackers terrorizing people in the French Quarter and the mayor himself having his family’s car stolen from in front of his uptown New Orleans home, the French Quarter signs are a constant reminder of recent trends that have clearly put residents, business owners and workers on edge.
Despite beefed-up efforts in the wake of several commercials slamming the Landrieu administration for failing to keep the Quarter safe, two more robberies occurred in the Vieux Carré Tuesday morning.
Some say that the signs posted in the Quarter are an embarrassment for a city that prides itself on its ability to keep Mardi Gras revelers safe despite the devil-may-care attitude that defines Carnival season. During Carnival, the streets are overflowing not only with revelers but with cops, state troopers, federal agents and private security officers, The Associated Press reported.
Despite their presence, shootings have occurred in nightclubs, on Bourbon Street, or along Carnival parade routes — many of which end at or near the Quarter — in at least eight of the past 11 years, according to the AP. At least 27 people were injured and one killed in those attacks.
The Associated Press reported that since November, a series of more than 60 robberies in and around the Quarter has shocked residents and sparked outrage directed not so much at the New Orleans Police Department but at Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who is pushing back against complaints that he paints a rosy-colored picture of his crime-fighting efforts.
The mayor has also been hit with criticism for celebrating the city’s slightly lower murder rate in 2014 while saying very little about the 38 percent rise in violent crime last year.
Surveillance cameras in the Quarter have captured pedestrians being stabbed, punched, kicked and thrown to the ground by violent attackers using everything from knives to guns, pepper sprained even purses to attack unsuspecting pedestrians.
“These are crimes of opportunity, these people are lying in wait,’ Harry Widmann, a lawyer whose California colleague was beaten unconscious in December after he was attacked on his way back to his hotel, told The Associated Press. “You need to have a police presence.”
NOPD Supt. Michael Harrison acknowledged the rise in armed robberies over the past year and the fact that these attacks “are becoming more brazen.”
Just last week, police reported the robbery of a man by a suspect who was impersonating a police officer and an Irish police officer vacationing in New Orleans was robbed ad shot twice last week in the 7th Ward.
After his home was burglarized and Buffa’s Bar & Restaurant, located near his mother’s home, was robbed by two armed men, businessman Sidney Torres IV launched a series of commercials lambasting the Landrieu administration and a website for other residents who are fed up.
“Enough is enough,” Torres said.
After initially criticizing Torres for his comments, the mayor quickly decided to hold a closed-door meeting with Torres and other business owners and agreed to assign more officers to the Quarter. In return. Torres agreed to stop running the commercials which had begun to strike a chord with residents.
Harrison said he had no problem with the French Quarter signs advising visitors to walk in large groups. “That’s good advice wherever you go in the world, and so, we’re not offended by that,” the he said..
While some have wondered what effect the posted signs and Torres’ commercials would have on tourism dollars, neither is expected to keep the droves of revelers away from the French Quarter over the next two weeks.
“As we move into the Carnival season, you are going to see a robust force on the streets,” Landrieu told The Associated Press. “I’ve authorized as much overtime as is necessary.”
The only problem with that solution is that the NOPD is in the midst of a severe manpower shortage.
The city has about 1,100 officers although many estimates say the Crescent City needs 1,600 officers to keep it safe. The NOPD, which has been under a federal consent decree aimed at overhauling the embattled agency since August 2013, is losing officers faster than it can hire them A report by the city’s inspector general in May 2013 found that as few as 250 officers were on patrol duty.
But while the Metropolitan Crime Commission and federal monitor Sheppard Mullin agree with the IG’s recommendation that the NOPD better utilize its available personnel, the IG disputes claims about a manpower shortage.
All three entities have recommended hiring civilians to perform office tasks performed by officers to free up those officers to patrol the streets of New Orleans.
A recent open letter to the mayor by a police union leader accused Landrieu of turning his back on the NOPD.
Police Association of New Orleans president Michael Glasser painted a picture last week of a police department that is in total disarray.
“I have been to some roll calls where there is one cop, two cops,” Glasser told The Associated Press.
Police have complained about low pay, changes to the NOPD’s off-duty detail system and the city’s mismanagement of available NOPD personnel, among other issues.
NOPD officials say the department is amping up its recruitment efforts and, thanks to a City Council vote allowing it to relax the residency rule, extending its efforts into surrounding parishes and other states.
In the meantime, residents and visitors would do well to heed the advice provided by those signs in the French Quarter about moving through the Quarter in large groups.
“We want them to know that, especially at night, it’s not safe to walk by yourself because you are a target,” French Quarter resident Crystal Hinds told The Associated Press as she put up signs recently. “It’s such a historic area, and it’s priceless. So, we definitely hope that something will be done about it.”
Louisiana State Police Com-mander Col. Mike Edmonson announced last week that the state has reached an agreement with the NOPD to maintain a presence in the city following state troopers’ Mardi Gras deployment, WWL-TV reported.
The number of troopers assigned to New Orleans will fluctuate from 20 to more than 50 during major events such as conventions, French Quarter Fest and Jazz Fest.
“This puts us here in the city through the middle of May and we’ll look at some type of contingent as we move forward,” Edmonson said.
NOPD Supt. Harrison said state police will once again concentrate their efforts in and around the French Quarter and Marigny areas.
“We believe it’s going to help our crime control,” Harrison told WWL. “We believe we’ll have success. We had great success last summer when they were here, with hundreds of arrests, violent crime arrests, drug arrests, vice arrests.”
For now state police will absorb the cost of the extra patrols. Long-term, the city’s tourism industry and city leaders are looking for other ways to pay for the added police protection as the NOPD continues its efforts to boost its ranks.
The City of New Orleans has also reached out to retired NOPD officers, asking them to help out as the NOPD’s top brass seeks to right its ship.
“Reserve officers are playing an important role in our overall strategy to reduce violent crime across the city,” said Harrison told WWL. “These seasoned officers bring an incredible amount of experience and knowledge to the field and they are well-equipped to stand with us as we work together to keep New Orleans safe. I am calling on any former officer who is willing to serve to step up today. This is an opportunity to make a difference right now.”
According to the NOPD, in 2014, reserve officers volunteered over 23,000 hours to the NOPD.
While those interested in volunteering their law-enforcement services will not be directly compensated, they will become eligible to participate in the NOPD’s off-duty paid detail system.
This article originally published in the February 2, 2015 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
