NEW ORLEANS — Michelle Woodfork made history as the first woman to lead the New Orleans Police Department, serving as interim chief from December 2022 to October 2023.
The trail-blazing officer is now preparing to leave the department after a 33-year career, according to multiple sources inside and outside the department.
“Her tenure was one of success,” said City Council member Oliver Thomas, one of Woodfork’s strongest supporters. “She had a career of service. She comes from a law enforcement family.”
As the daughter of a New Orleans cop, and niece of the first African American Superintendent, Warren Woodfork, Michelle Woodfork rose through the ranks before making her mark at the top.
Shortly after she was named interim chief just before Christmas 2022, Woodfork won over some skeptics by immediately shaking up the department’s upper command. Some of the people who expressed hesitance about Woodfork’s leadership noted that she had never held a highly visible deputy chief or district commander post before being tapped as interim.
Woodfork gained even more support by gradually bringing down violent crime rates through more pro-active policing.
“Under her leadership we started to see the violent crime rate reduced. I attribute that to some of the strategies she employed,” said Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, a non-profit criminal justice watchdog group.
Woodfork was successful enough to become one of two finalists for the permanent chief's job along with the eventual choice, current Chief Anne Kirpatrick. Kirkpatrick rose to the top following a national search by the Washington, D.C.-based International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Even after Kirkpatrick won the job, she kept Woodfork as a deputy chief over recruitment, her current position.
Thomas strongly lobbied for Woodfork when the City Council held its first-ever confirmation for a top mayoral appointee, becoming the lone vote against Kirkpatrick as a show of support for Woodfork.
“I felt so strongly about her service that I voted for her to be the permanent police chief,” Thomas said.
Goyeneche agrees that Woodfork had a good run.
“I think she'll go down as one of the best interim chiefs the city's had,” he said.
Woodfork could not be reached, and neither NOPD nor the city responded to requests for comment.
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