NOPD
BEGINS FIRST PHASE OF RESTRUCTURING EFFORT TO INCREASE POLICE PRESENCE IN
NEIGHBORHOODS ACROSS THE CITY
NEW
ORLEANS—Starting this week, residents and visitors will see a
significant surge in neighborhood patrols as the NOPD adds a total of 54 officers to patrol to respond to citizen calls
for service. The additional manpower on the street is the first phase of a major restructuring effort within the department that aims to
increase police presence and reduce violent crime in neighborhoods across the
city.
“My
number one priority is to make New Orleans a safer city and we are doing that by
putting the right number of officers on the street to prevent crime and to
respond quickly when residents need our help,” said NOPD Superintendent Michael
Harrison. “This new deployment strategy makes us more visible and gives us the
resources we need to quickly dispatch an officer to a person in need. I am
committed to continuing to use our resources efficiently and effectively to give
our community the police services they deserve. And as we continue to grow,
every neighborhood will see more police.”
The
restructuring effort is based on a review commissioned by Chief Harrison in 2015
that analyzed department staffing and resources to determine the most effective
and efficient structuring of the NOPD. Based on the staffing analysis portion of
the study, which included interviews and focus groups with officers, Berkshire
Advisors determined that the department needed to add a minimum of 94 officers
to patrol.
The
first phase of the restructuring effort that begins today includes the
reassignment of a total of 54 officers to patrol. That includes:
- Consolidating
staff positions and reassigning district duties. This move shifts
non-essential duties, including administrative and mechanical tasks, away from
commissioned officers.
- Reassignment
of Motorcycle Division to districts. This move puts officers who are
specially trained in traffic enforcement in the districts.
- Reassignment
of Community Coordinating Sergeants and Quality of Life Officers to patrol
duties. As the NOPD moves toward becoming a strong community policing
focused department, every officer is being trained to provide these services to
citizens. In addition to putting more boots on the ground, the new deployment
strategy builds more free time into officers’ schedules for community policing
activities.
On top of reassigning these officers to patrol in this first
phase, 28 recruits from Class #173 will complete field training and will begin
patrol on April 24. The second phase of the restructuring effort will add
more officers to patrol as soon as their civilian replacements are hired, which
is expected to happen by the end of the first quarter of this year.
More
boots on the ground will lead to better response times
Having
more officers available to respond to citizen calls for service is expected to
significantly decrease police response times. In fact, according to the
Berkshire Advisors review, putting an additional 94 officers on patrol, will
allow the NOPD to respond to 90 percent of all emergency calls for service
within 7 minutes.
At
the same time, Chief Harrison has worked to create innovative solutions to free
up officers’ time in the field, including:
- Adding
more staff in the Alternative Police Response (APR) Unit to handle non-violent
property crime reports via telephone;
- Building
an on-line reporting system to report non-violent property crimes to police;
and
- Updating the City’s False Alarm Ordinance to cut time wasted
responding to false alarms.
The
NOPD is also continuing its aggressive recruiting and hiring campaign, which led to the launch of four
new recruit classes in 2015. Right now, a total of 56 recruits are in training
at the NOPD Training Academy. The department is expected to graduate one recruit
class and start another recruit class in April.
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