NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) — Michelle Woodfork marks her first 100 days as the New Orleans Police Department’s interim superintendent and says violent crime is on the decline.
The press conference on Monday afternoon (April 3) followed a violent weekend that saw five shootings in a 24-hour period, leaving nine people hospitalized across the city.
Still, Supt. Woodfork says progress is being made.
“Although I knew firsthand the challenges we faced, I knew they were not insurmountable,” said Woodfork.
Overall, she says crime has dropped by 20%. She says homicides and shootings are down slightly from last year, but the city’s violence is making residents nervous.
One of the weekend’s filming sessions took place on the Lafitte Greenway on the 700 block of St. Louis Street. Neighbors tell Fox 8 a DJ lined up in the park and started playing music for a party when a large crowd gathered. They say someone appeared and started shooting into the crowd.
According to the police, a woman and a youth were shot dead.
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People who live nearby say they are fed up with crime.
“It’s just not enough,” a neighbor told Fox 8. “We need more out here to help keep our residents safe because we’re also losing residents, not just to crime. People are leaving because they are afraid of what is happening and so many of our young people are dying. It is so sad.”
support Woodfork says she knows there will be an increase in crime, but overall she thinks things are getting better. She said her crime plan has three components; Reduction of crime, recruitment and compliance with the consent decree.
The lack of staff in the NOPD remains a serious problem. Eleven recruits graduated Friday, a class of 18 is underway and a new class will begin April 10.
“We want to make sure our officers are treated fairly, and because they know that, they know that we’re looking at promotions, the way promotions are done and things like that,” Woodfork said.
The NOPD plans to hold a series of public meetings in the near future. support Woodfork says she wants the public to know exactly what the NOPD is doing to reduce crime.
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