NEW ORLEANS — More federal assets may be on the way to help the New Orleans Police Department counter a surge in violent crime.
Thursday, Mayor LaToya Cantrell met in Washington, DC, with Julie Chavez Rodriguez, director of the white house office of intergovernmental affairs. According to city spokesman Gregory Joseph, the mayor made a request for U.S. Marshals to return to the city.
In November, they helped police conduct a two-week sweep for people wanted on arrest warrants. The mayor talked about the success of the sweep at her weekly briefing on Wednesday.
“In November, I asked for three months extra help getting and placing these warrants, removing people from our streets,” Cantrell said. “While we didn’t get three months, we got two weeks, but it rendered real results in our city.”
The mayor also asked for the ATF to continue its aggressive strategy to get guns off the street. And she made a pitch for the U.S. Surgeon General to come to New Orleans to continue a dialogue about mental health and substance abuse.
Cantrell’s requests for federal assistance come just one day before NOPD Superintendent Michelle Woodfork is expected to unveil the city’s long awaited crime fighting plan.
“The focus continues to be, of course, in support of the New Orleans Police Department and working collaboratively with all of our law enforcement partners who are front and center at the table,” Cantrell said.
The new crime plan is also expected to stress technology as a force multiplier to help bolster a depleted NOPD. The department has now officially registered as a law enforcement agency with "Neighbors by Ring."
That’s a real-time crime and safety alert app where residents and businesses can upload videos from their ring doorbell and other home security cameras.
“Thousands and thousands of people, residents have cameras,” NOPD Sgt. Juan Barnes said. “This was a great opportunity for them to remain safe. That’s important to citizens. They want to be able to help law enforcement, but they want to make sure they’re safe as well.”
The NOPD stresses, the Neighbors app is completely anonymous and voluntary.
“We have zero, no access whatsoever to anyone’s cameras,” Barnes added. “The only way we can get video from anyone is if they voluntarily choose to upload it to the app.”