NEW ORLEANS — News that New Orleans Police Superintendent Sean Ferguson is stepping down at the end of the year didn’t come as a total shock to some city council members Tuesday.
“It seemed to be inevitable, to be honest with you,” District E Councilman Oliver Thomas said.
Councilman Thomas says the focus now is moving forward to find a replacement.
“We need someone who can inspire confidence amongst the ranks of a depleted force and someone who can rally the citizens,” Thomas said.
Given current struggles at the NOPD, like officer retention and recruitment, and recent spikes in crime, council members are pushing for a national search. The push for a search comes as talks someone currently in the NOPD ranks could be appointed by the mayor.
“What I do think is we’ve landed on one person and that’s somebody who’s internal. We haven’t kicked the tires on anybody across the country who has dealt with these issues in the past,” District A Councilman Joe Giarrusso said.
Councilman Giarrusso points to last month’s election when New Orleans voters changed the city’s charter. Come January, the city council gets to approve mayoral appointments. An appointment before then means no oversight from the city council.
“If that winds up happening I think the council will probably make a lot of noise about what people voted on,” Giarrusso said.
For council members who’ve been critical of the leadership at police headquarters, like At-Large Councilman JP Morrell, a change in leadership should come with scrutiny.
“Whoever the mayor is appointing, I think they should be able to stand on their own two feet through a confirmation process and circumventing it certainly sends a chilling message to people who are looking for transparency,” Morrell said.
Whatever process prevails, councilman Thomas says rushing or forcing a replacement would be a disservice.
“We really need to know what we’re looking for and how expansive is the search going to be, what are some of the criteria that we need, and the citizens ought to be involved in that discussion,” Thomas said.
The announcement of Ferguson’s retirement, which came from the mayor’s office, made no mention of when his final day would be, who would replace him, or whether there would be a search for a new chief.