If all goes as anticipated, Interim New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick will make her case before the City Council on Wednesday. Citizens will have a chance to weigh in, and we’ll be on the way to the city’s legislative body approving Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s pick as permanent police chief soon.
But first, Kirkpatrick will face a lot of questions.
When she appears before the Council's Governmental Affairs Committee, Kirkpatrick will no doubt be prepared to present her bona fides, talk about her background and experiences and share her vision for a New Orleans Police Department that needs a permanent leader — and new vision.
NOPD superintendent nominee, Anne Kirkpatrick, talks to the media gathered in a private room at New Orleans City Hall on Monday, September 11, 2023. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com)
The five-member committee is charged with vetting the former Oakland, California, police chief before making a recommendation to the full, seven-member council. If the committee suggests confirmation, the full council will likely vote to approve her on Oct. 19, the council's next regularly scheduled meeting.
The council's vetting process has enormous significance. It’s the first time council members will use their voter-granted authority to consider whether a mayoral nominee should permanently fill the top police job.
Nothing is certain. Every detail takes on outsized importance.
Kirkpatrick seems to have it together. The International Association of Chiefs of Police, the group Mayor LaToya Cantrell asked to coordinate a national search, gave Kirkpatrick high marks for experience and helped her win the mayor’s nod.
A Memphis native, Kirkpatrick has an impressive resume. A Seattle University School of Law graduate, she is an attorney who has worked with eight police departments — as a chief with four of them. Oakland. Spokane. Ellensburg, Washington. Federal Way, Washington.
She also worked as a Chicago Police Department leader after she didn’t get the top cop job she wanted there. And she has worked the streets of Memphis as an officer.
But résumé listings aren’t enough. Council members played no role in the search. At the time, they wanted to know more about the process and the potential candidates, but they didn't get the info they sought. Now they want to know more about Kirkpatrick, who appears to have supporters and detractors, as many leaders do.
They want to know — and it's their job to determine — whether she can handle this special job.
Though citizens will have an opportunity to express their opinions during Wednesday's committee hearing, most of the public will rely on council members to ask the questions that vex our city's crime-weary residents.
The committee includes Council President JP Morrell and Council members Joe Giarrusso, Eugene Green, Lesli Harris and Freddie King. Council Vice President Helena Moreno and Council member Oliver Thomas aren’t a part of the committee, but they may attend the committee hearing. Thomas said he’ll be there. So will Moreno.
Green told me he wants to hear Kirkpatrick’s ideas about police recruitment, lateral transfers and how to deal with the media. He also wants to hear how she’d improve retention.
Thomas wants to hear about her handling of the Oakland police consent decree, a two-decade federal oversight somewhat like the New Orleans consent decree. He also wants to hear the interim chief talk about racial bias when it comes to Black motorists and pedestrians. And he wants to hear why she thinks she’s a “cultural fit.”
Someone should ask how Kirkpatrick’s plans to reduce the number of police officers leaving for neighboring law enforcement agencies and whether she thinks she can get retired officers to return.
Someone also should ask how 911 response times can be improved, and how the department — and the district attorney's office — should handle gun and weapons charges.
I'd love to see someone ask how officers — and local judges — can better handle partner and spousal violence.
After those and other questions are answered, the committee must decide whether to recommend confirmation to the full council. Or not.
Whatever the committee recommends, the full council isn't obligated to decide until Jan. 20, 2024.
Of course, council members know that New Orleans can't afford to wait that long to know who the next permanent chief will be.
We've recently seen a big drop in violent crime, according to NOPD statistics. That success is a good reflection on former Interim Superintendent Michelle Woodfork's nine-month tenure.
Fortunately, Woodfork will continue to serve the city she loves.
Kirkpatrick is the outsider that many wanted, hoping she'll bring "fresh eyes" to the daunting task of leading NOPD. She's made it clear she wants Woodfork on her team.
Which prompts another question: To do what?
