NEW ORLEANS — The city of New Orleans is closer to having a permanent NOPD superintendent. But, at least one city official says the process of naming a new leader is veiled in secrecy.
“The response that the council got from IACP was we’re not telling you anything you did not contract with us, the city of New Orleans, the mayor did. And you’re not entitled to any information whatsoever,” Councilmember JP Morrell said. “It has been a frustrating situation because the public, the council the business community, everyone was led to believe this would be a transparent process.”
Morrell says cutting the candidate pool from 33 to six so quickly is troubling.
“The fact that we had 33 qualified applicants, the fact that the administration trumpeted how qualified these people were and they whittled them down to six people in a matter of a day or two without interviewing a single one, without providing an objective criteria as to how people were selected or not selected, it’s beyond troubling,” he said.
Mayor Cantrell disagrees, saying there’s nothing to hide.
“Lack of transparency? I don't see that that's the case at all,” Cantrell said Wednesday at her weekly press conference. “The whole point of having it independent [was] so it can be managed, without any I would say micromanagement of the administration, just guidance.”
The mayor said again Wednesday, she would not release names of the six semifinalists. We asked if not releasing them feeds into the claims of lack of transparency.
“No, not when it comes to doing harm to people and sometimes you all do you do a really good job of doing harm to people when they're stepping up to do a good service for the people,” Mayor Cantrell said.
The finalists will eventually go before council.
“If the administration believes they’re going to back the council into a corner with a dog and pony show fake selection process they have another thing coming,” Morrell said.
Finalists will go through an assessment July 20 and July 21. Stakeholders have been invited including the Fraternal Order of Police. Two other police associations, the Police Association of New Orleans and the Black Organization of Police have not been invited. They have issued a letter to the city to request an invitation, saying they believe their members should be equally represented.