NEW ORLEANS — Anne Kirkpatrick is Mayor Cantrell's choice for the next NOPD Superintendent.
Kirkpatrick served as Chief of Police in Oakland, California from January 2017 until she was allegedly wrongfully terminated in February 2020. She was awarded $1.5 million in a settlement for that termination.
Kirkpatrick sat down for her first-ever TV interview in New Orleans with WWLTV. She told us she plans on bringing the crime-fighting methods she used in Oakland, here to New Orleans.
"Any time a person’s life could end, that’s not a statistic to me, that number is someone’s loved one," Kirkpatrick said. "That’s why aggravated assaults, assaults that lead up to homicide, that’s a loss of life and that will always be my number one."
Kirkpatrick also served as the Spokane Police Chief for six years until 2012.
Her experience with Oakland, according to former NOPD Chief Eddie Compass, will translate well to New Orleans.
"The fact she was the chief of Oakland, it’s a very similar in size police department so she’s not going to be overwhelmed by any stretch of the imagination," Compass said.
So how did Oakland fare under Kirkpatrick? For context, Kirkpatrick was chief for just three years.
According to Oakland's Uniform Crime Reporting Data, prior to Kirkpatrick's arrival, the city was seeing a steady decrease in overall crimes between 2012 and 2016.
Data shows, by the end of Kirkpatrick's first year, 2017, overall violent crime decreased by 538 compared to the year before, with homicides down by 16, to 69. Car thefts decreased by 1,404.
In 2018, data shows overall violent crimes decreased by 41 incidents, homicides increased by and motor vehicle thefts decreased by 424.
In 2019 the overall violent crimes changed in trend and instead increased by 40. Homicides increased by 8 and motor vehicle thefts decreased by 30.
Kirkpatrick was then fired in February of 2020. The year-end stats show a slight increase in overall violent crime for 2020 with a rise of 111 incidents. Homicides rose by 24 and motor vehicle thefts rose by 1,671.
The city's UCR data is unavailable for years after Kirkpatrick was chief. Kirkpatrick still has to be confirmed by the city council.
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