New Orleans new police chief

Last week, Mayor LaToya Cantrell named veteran NOPD Commander Shaun Ferguson as the new Superintendent, replacing outgoing Chief Michael Harrison, who departed last Friday for Maryland. Harrison’s steady hand in the difficult implementation of a federal consent decree was desperately needed in troubled Baltimore, whose police department faces many of the same challenges that the NOPD encountered and generally overcame.

It is a mixed record, but the New Orleans Police Department stands as less racially profiled and more engaging with the general public of all ethnicities than at any point in its history. Moreover, the local crime rate has actually drastically fallen to its lowest point since 1971. Even the rush of shootings over the Christmas holidays did not tarnish that statistical achievement.

Shaun Ferguson helped to reach these federally mandated goals, but he also witnessed the challenges created by the consent decree, including the consequent departure of hundreds of cops to other departments and the private sector. Subsequent recruitment has been a challenge, as has mounting sufficiently large police academy classes to reverse the decline.

Fortunately, with Ferguson’s tenure as head of the NOPD’s education department they began to see some early successes in reversing this trend. Now thrust into the public view, the Chief will need to inspire even more young men and women to join the Department. For a few years, or for a career, the NOPD needs talented and ambitious New Orleanians, and the vocal leadership of the Superintendent plays the largest role in their enlistment.

Can Ferguson use the “Bully Pulpit” of his office to encourage the recruitment of new cops? Will outreach to other metro police departments continue under his leadership, a major factor in the fight against crime?

These are but a couple of the New Superintendent’s challenges.

This article originally published in the January 21, 2019 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.