Amid mounting pressure, New Orleans Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson will retire from his position at the end of this year, according to a statement from Mayor LaToya Cantrell.
“The City of New Orleans will soon say goodbye to a great leader, a great partner and a great friend. After 24 years of dedicated public service to the City of New Orleans, Superintendent Shaun Ferguson will retire at the end of this year. He gave this city its very best – the safety and well-being of each and every resident and visitor has always been his top priority,” Cantrell said in a statement Tuesday.
NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson is retiring after nearly four years at the helm of the police department, Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced Tuesday.
(Associated Press)
Ferguson was named chief by Cantrell in January 2019 to replace outgoing chief Michael Harrison, who had accepted the job as police chief in Baltimore.
City Council Vice President JP Morrell called for Ferguson’s resignation last week as the council worked to pass the city’s $1.5 billion budget, where $25 million would go toward a recruiting and retention incentive package. policemen.
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“You can repair the Titanic’s hull over and over again, but if the captain keeps crashing it into an iceberg, nothing will change,” Morrell said.
Morrell is one of many in New Orleans who are upset with the direction the “Big Easy” is taking under Cantrell’s leadership in light of a recent spike in crime and criticism of Cantrell’s travel spending.
“Chief Ferguson’s resignation marks another loss for the New Orleans Police Department, a department that continues to hemorrhage amid unprecedented crime in the city.” Bayou Mama Bears founder Laura Cannizzaro Rodrigue told Fox News Digital. “Chief Ferguson accepted this position while the NOPD was under a federal consent decree, a decree that remains in effect, continues to cripple the department, and will go down as one of our city’s greatest failures. The mayor will now appoint a new police chief But until the federal consent decree is removed, we’re just rearranging the furniture on the Titanic.”
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In September 2022, New Orleans surpassed St. Louis as the murder capital of the United States, as the city sees a 141% increase in homicides compared to recent years.
According to data from the Metropolitan Crime Commissionan organization that tracks crime and also tries to reduce it, there have been 52 homicides per 100,000 population as of September 11, 2022.
In st louis, there have been nearly 45 homicides per 100,000 residents as of September 17, according to data from the St. Louis Police Department. By comparison, there have been nearly 18 homicides in Chicago per 100,000 residents and 3.5 in New York City.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to Ferguson and Morrell for comment.
Jasmine Baehr and Adam Sabes of Fox News contributed to this report.
