NEW ORLEANS — Interim Superintendent Michelle Woodfork is confident her crime plan will reduce violent crime in the city, even with an understaffed department, by getting creative in working with what she has.
"Are you saying we can be a safer city with just the manpower you have now?" Councilmember Oliver Thomas questioned Woodfork during the City Council Crime Committee meeting Tuesday.
"I absolutely believe we can and we will," Woodfork responded.
She updated council members on her crime plan which she revealed last week.
"Our goal is to provide a quality of life the people of New Orleans expect and absolutely deserve," Woodfork said.
Councilmembers seemed hopeful.
"What I really appreciate is you have a plan. This is something the council asked for for quite some time," said City Council VP Helena Moreno.
Woodfork said she has three main goals. First, improving public safety through meaningful partnerships and efficient use of resources. Second, retaining, recruiting and creating a positive work environment. Third, creating an evolution of systems and processes that improve the efficacy of the department.
You can read her full plan here: https://nopdnews.com/post/february-2023/view-superintendent-woodfork-s-strategic-crime-pla/
To try and get officers back on the force, she assigned each deputy chief a list of 10 officers who retired or resigned within the last two years to see if they'd return or learn why they left.
"I tasked them with calling those folks to see if they could talk to them about how things will be better, different, this is a department of change and we have people who are coming back on," Woodfork said.
Woodfork is pushing for proactive policing in the department.
"Actively going out, making a vehicle stop, actively going out making a pedestrian stop, business check," she said.
Woodfork was among a list of criminal justice leaders to appear before the committee including Sheriff Susan Hutson and judges. District Attorney Jason Williams did not appear but sent representatives from his office instead.
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