NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson has the full support of Mayor LaToya Cantrell despite a surge in violent crime and some extremely disturbing videos that show the brazenness of some crimes on the streets of New Orleans.
That was the statement from the city’s communications director, Beau Tidwell at his Tuesday media briefing.
Tidwell said that Ferguson and Cantrell would hold a press conference regarding the city’s efforts to curb the violent crime. The press conference was scheduled last week but postponed due to illness.
Tidwell said that he wouldn’t speak on behalf of Ferguson but said claims that he doesn’t have a plan to stop crime are not accurate.
“There is a crime plan in place,” said Tidwell. “Chief Ferguson has a plan. It remains in place and has evolved.”
Recent videos that showed armed gunmen pour gunshots into a pickup truck on Elysian Fields during rush hour and another that showed gunmen fire into a vehicle on Broad Street, also close to rush hour, illustrated the city’s issues with crime.
So far, to end 2021 and start 2022, high profile killings of a 7-year-old girl in Algiers- whose family car was riddled with bullets- and the killing of a 12-year-old boy in New Orleans East have made headlines, as did the fatal shooting of a mother who was driving with a young child on the interstate a couple of weeks ago.
Those crimes have gotten even the city’s district attorney, Jason Williams, to admit that he is nervous when out on errands like putting gas into his vehicle.
The crime comes at a time when the size of the city’s police force sits at about 2/3 of what would be desired.