NEW ORLEANS — NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson and Orleans District Attorney Jason Williams appeared at a joint press conference Thursday morning to show and pledge unity in the city’s fight against violent crime.
The two men said they did have some disagreements recently, but that the extent of them were overplayed and they laid out four points of agreement.
“I’ve had more disagreements with my wife than with the chief,” Williams said. “We see more eye-to-eye on issues than we disagree with.”
The two men said they were going to work on four points.
- Baseline data and public sharing
- A serial crimes initiative
- Combating group and gang violence
- A continued strategic partnership
Both men pledged to go after violent criminals and said that was never an issue. Williams pushed back on what he called a narrative that as a progressive, he was soft on crime.
“Criminal justice reform, being a progressive DA, being smart on crime, was never about not being tough on violent offenders. Criminal justice reform was making sure that someone who got caught with a joint for the third time didn’t spend 10 years in jail,” he bristled. “I’m not about to let there be some narrative that criminal justice reform… had anything to do with carjackings, shootings and rapes… Progressives want to get gas at a gas station too without getting carjacked.”
Ferguson and Williams both also believe the city has a gang issue, but said it's not as bad as other cities because they are so loosely organized.
"The leadership hierarchy is insane, which speaks to the sloppiness that you see, shooting randomly, hitting the wrong people. It is why the multi-agency gang unit… is critically important because when people are affiliated we can gather intelligence and take them off the street,” Williams said.