Councilmember Morell.

Councilmember Harris.

Councilmember Green.

Councilmember Hughes.

We have three members.

We have a quorum.

All right.

Can we do the uh approve the minutes from last meeting?

I make a motion to approve.

Second by Councilmember Harris.

Councilmember Cream.

Aye.

All right.

All right.

Approve the meetings.

Minutes from last meeting.

All right, good morning, everyone.

We're going to start our criminal justice meeting for March 30th, 2026.

It's our second meeting of the year.

Um, we're gonna go a little out of order to respect the time of our criminal court judges who are present and have to be back in court.

So we're gonna exit our pre our first presentation be made by the Orleans Parish Criminal Court judges, led by Chief Judge Juana Lombard.

Pass me my glasses, please.

She got them in the first.

Okay.

Good morning, council members.

Thank you so much for taking us first, and thank you so much for taking your time out of our busy days to uh listen to the court's presentation.

At this time, uh criminal court has managed to maintain normal operations as you're well aware.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Juanamarine Lombard, Chief Judge, and Magistrate Judge for Criminal District Court.

I am here with Kimya Holmes, the deputy chief of criminal district court, Rob Kasich, our judicial administrator, and Shannon Sims, our deputy judicial administrator.

And again, thank you all for having us here this morning.

Uh at this time through the first quarter, as you're aware, we were cut um like many other agencies last year.

At this time, the court has managed to maintain normal court operations and to keep all of our services and pretrial programs running, including the specialty courts, our domestic violence program, our mental health court, our drug court, our re-entry program, and our veterans' affairs program, as well as our rise after release program.

Um again, that might be something we come back at later in the year to talk about, but at this time we have managed to maintain normal court operations on our more limited budget.

Um we have instituted the case management system that we talked about for a long time.

It went live in mid-November.

We are in the middle of the data conversion still.

The beacon system from the sheriff's office has not gone live yet.

The two systems were designed to talk to each other.

So for the past couple months, we have been kind of operating in a bifurcated system where the sheriff is still in AS400, and we are in CMS.

It has caused some hiccups that we work through daily, and hopefully when Beacon goes live, we will have more accurate numbers, a more uh transparent system, and the two systems will communicate better, which will reduce the man hours that it is taking right now from the clerk and the sheriff's office.

Um judge, there's a lot of sound like feedback coming from your mic.

No, I don't know if uh we can have somebody from the staff correct that, but it's am I the only one hearing that?

No, you need to no further back.

No, that's I don't know, but maybe if we have somebody from the A V department eventually come and check it out, but go ahead.

Maybe I'll turn it and just project.

Can y'all hear me if I don't know?

We can hear you, but it's I to hear this all day long.

It may it may be a bit problem.

So let me turn mine off.

I don't think it's yours.

Okay.

Um so we are still addressing those issues.

Uh last year in New Orleans in 2024, we did 153 felony jury trials, which represented about 27 of the percent of the trials statewide.

And this year, 2025, our numbers, our preliminary numbers are showing 137 criminal jury trials, which represents 24 percent of the jury trials statewide.

We had 26 murder trials last year, which is actually some more than some jurisdictions tried.

I guess we could say there's uh about half the jurisdictions in the state did not even have 26 jury trials last year.

Um I will let Mr.

Kasich talk about the retrofit project.

I wanted to just briefly touch on the numbers.

At this time, we are operating with four law enforcement, two primary law enforcement agencies, which is the NOLA police department and Troop NOLA from state police.

We have multi-jurisdictional task force.

We also serve the Sheriff's Department, the Department of Public Safety, the Harvey Harvey police, the Levy District Police, and all the university police around the city.

So last year we had approximately 8,400 arrests made in state court arrest, resulting in about 29,000 charges that passed through criminal court last year.

Weekly, we have nearly 1,100 defendants coming through civil court.

I mean through criminal court this year.

We do have lastly, there is a lot of legislation.

I give this number these numbers because there's a lot of legislation pending that are on that will impact our court in various ways.

We are paying attention to the legislation.

We are providing numbers to the legislators as well as the city council.

We are going there when necessary to give information.

This is taking a lot of time right now up and away from our court system.

But uh, well, not everybody's just me and the deputy chief, I guess.

But um, so we just want you to be aware that we are aware of it.

We are trying to make sure everyone has their accurate numbers and we're trying to stay on top of it.

But of course, our primary focus is still our dockets, which is why we thank you for taking us first, because we have trials waiting for us when we get back to court.

Any questions?

Any questions for the day's?

Yes, Councilman Green.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Thank you all for being here.

Do you wish to opine on the potential difficulties that might be presented by the reduction in the number of judges and a consolidation of the responsibilities because the public is watching, it's an opportunity to do so.

And if it's not appropriate, that's fine.

So as judges, okay, that's even though we have our opinions.

Uh we are only we can only provide factual information on legislation.

We cannot oppose or um support.

I think though it's just obvious to anyone that if you reduce any business by almost 20 percent, it's going to have an impact on the day-to-day operations.

Besides that, I don't think um I can say anything.

Yeah, that's fine.

And actually, it was really to get you to say some of the obvious, it doesn't have to be an opinion, but there'll be challenges because you'll be there will be challenges.

Right, the tremendous challenges.

Um you mentioned another statistic that in Arleens Parish of the jury, the felony jury trials, we did 25 percent of what happened in the entire state.

I want to make sure I understand that statistics.

So we did 156.

Yes, but so throughout the entire state, all 64 parishes.

Hope it's not 63, is it 63 or four?

I forget.

But I but the bottom line is that what was going on that there was so that we had such a high percentage.

I mean, obviously, we may have an issue relative to criminal activity, but the bottom line is that there's something else going on that you aren't seeing trials in other areas too.

Can't really speak on what other areas are doing, but Orleans Parish has for the most part always led the state in the amount of felony trials that we had.

Um in 2024, it was 153 um jury trials that we had statewide, it was 563, so that was the 27 percent of the trials that we had um statewide.

And this past year, we were down a little bit to 137 trials, but that still represented 24 percent of all trials in the state of Louisiana.

And like Judge Lombard said, we tried 26 murder trials.

We had some parishes um only having 20, or some parishes only having 20 um 15 total trials, and of that 26 of our trials last year were homicide trials.

Okay, this is just an opportunity to tell the public to they understand that 25 percent of the felony trials took place in this parish.

Alone.

I know you all have the work to do on the public no on the state level, but I just think it's important to the public to understand those sort of statistics that of the remaining 60 plus parishes.

If you spread it out, that remains a very small number per parish of jury trials does.

Correct.

And one of the reasons I believe that we have so many jury trials is because our if you look at the composite of our cases annually, about 70% of our cases, sometimes almost 80, are uh crimes of violence and drug charges.

I think according to the MCC report last year, 55% were crimes of violence, and then another 15% were weapons charges.

So when you add those two, that explains why you're going to trial so much because those charges carry mandatory minimum sentences of five years, ten years.

Um sometimes higher.

And so obviously, if you're looking at a life sentence, i.e.

a murder trial, you're gonna go to trial because nobody's gonna life, you know, unless they're looking at debt.

Right.

So that I think explains why we have so many jury trials, and I think again, uh the composite of our document being violent, even the misdemeanor is all violent.

I do probably more than half my docket is domestic violence and aggravated cell charges.

Um you look at that, it explains the difference between what we do versus what we're being compared to.

Could you talk to potential jurors?

Because one thing that I have heard is contrary to what people think that one of the reasons that you're able to do jury trials is that we have a good number of people who are willing to serve on juries who show up.

Is that correct or is that and if so, I'd like you to either make an appeal to people to be willing to serve on juries or to give the applaud where it is where there's due in terms of those people who um do show up.

We have um so at one point jurors used to come twice a month.

Now that it's four times a month, so we only keep jurors now for a week at a time, which actually I think is a little more beneficial because you know if you're selected for jury duty, you're only going to be in criminal court that week unless something goes over with a more serious homicide case or a multi-defendant case.

Um, we roughly have about 150 to 175 people coming in every Monday.

Of course, we would love to have more jurors because the more jurors that come, the more trials that can go.

So if you have 12 judges looking at the pool of 150 to 175 people, and undoubtedly somebody will not be able to go to trial if all 12 of us wanted to go on on any given Monday or Tuesday.

So we are always looking for the public to come.

Um you can even volunteer for jury duty, which a lot of people I don't think understand that.

So I would just plead to anyone who receives that summons to please, please, please come.

It's a civic duty, it's one of the most important things you can do as a citizen, and literally the wheels of justice would come to a screech and hope if we didn't have people who are willing to come and serve as jurors.

And how does one volunteer for jury duty?

They can just call the jury commissioner at criminal district court.

Okay.

And so we would plead not just to the people who get the summons, but to retirees, to people who are home, work from home, and have the ability to come and volunteer.

It is a good way to learn what is going on in your system, and it's a good way to in the city, it's a good way to help combat what so many people consider to be a violent crime problem.

And you know, some of our volunteers really find it interesting.

Okay, cool.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Paris, any questions?

Yeah, just so quickly, I can see some of the renovations happening and taking place uh on the building.

Um, every time I drive by, which is fairly often.

So can you just give us an update on how that's going, how the jury rooms are proceeding, and what the timeline is?

I'll talk about two projects.

Excuse me.

The first project is the wind retrofit project.

If everyone's familiar with it, that's a project that the City of New Orleans capital administration was able to obtain federal funding to restore in the excuse me.

The hardening of the building, that project replaces all 285 windows.

I'm sorry.

And uh it's okay.

Uh all 285 windows.

The project's almost always almost complete.

There's uh the project from only understanding has to be finished by the end of May.

So we're really trying to step it up.

We're having some challenges uh getting uh balancing uh changing the courtroom windows, but the most of the exterior windows on the outside have been done.

They're working on the larger uh interior windows now, which is gonna be the challenge.

The thank you.

The water ticking has been done, some of the roof work has been done.

They're working on the back sally part of the building now.

Uh the it's uh we're hoping to have this done.

We're doing everything we can to cooperate.

The windows were delayed a little bit.

Uh the windows are coming from New York from a historic uh company that makes historic windows.

So that's being addressed right now.

Uh but the second question that you had mentioned was about the jury renovations.

As you know, uh, unfortunately, the city pulled that bond money, so that project is on hold right now.

The design work of the project has been finished.

Uh it's on the shelf, so as soon as the city council is able to restore that funding, it'll be ready to be pulled off the shelf and begin package.

So there's really no update to give you on that other than the project's been halted at the moment.

But we have a design and we're ready to go once it's funded.

Design's ready, it's uh everything's been approved.

We're just waiting for the funding to do the construction part of that project.

Got it.

Um the other slightly strange question is now that there's more focus on filming again in Louisiana after centers and everything.

Are you getting any requests to film inside the courtroom?

We uh any requests that we get now, we refer to the city uh film office.

Uh it's just a challenge.

Obviously, nothing's being done right now.

The grand hallway has been boarded up, all the windows have been boarded up, so it's uh it's uh it's a mess right now, but we hope that it's uh it's a functioning mess we're going through right now.

The judges have been amazing working with us to facilitate us getting in the courtrooms and getting the work done.

The only other issue we have, and I know Judge Holmes can attest to this, is uh uh you know.

I know everybody's got funding issues, but we're having major issues uh and it's not property management's fault, it's just that they don't have any funding.

Judge Holmes has been without an elevator in her courtroom for over a year now.

Uh that was uh uh hurricane um I think project that was on hold.

Uh was that the hurricane?

So we're still waiting on funding for that.

Well, we have several bathrooms that are out of commission, and uh property management just says that there's no funding available to assist at this time.

I mean, literally, we have like nine facilities, uh individual facilities that are out of service right now, which causes delays when you got a jury going to a courtroom and you got 55 jurors that want to use the bathroom before they go in, and you only have one working uh commode in one of the restrooms.

So if there's any assistance you can give us with capital projects, that'd be great.

Okay, yeah, we can meet and talk about it.

Thank you.

All right.

Uh any online comments, Nina?

Okay, we do have a comment from uh Bert.

Uh Bert Landers.

What?

Oh, Little Drew.

It's uh Bert Ludwig, sir, L-O-D-R-I-G.

Here, buddy.

3438 in that street uh here in New Orleans.

Louisiana has 64 parishes.

Sixty-three of the parishes judges provide preside over both civil and criminal cases.

There's only one parish in in the state of Louisiana that has separate courts for criminal and civil cases.

It's New Orleans Inspector General then uh Ed Quattroville decades ago stated that we have too many judges in this city for the number of cases that we received.

Um this is uh a big, big big problem, and uh something needs to be done about it.

Um we had constant in constant battle with the uh legislature.

We always stick out like a sore thumb against the other three parishes.

Um with these situations being recently cited, it's really time for change.

Thank you.

Um other comments, judges.

All right, thank you for your presentation.

Thank you for having me.

All right.

Next, uh, we're going to go to our juvenile judges.

Again, they have a uh a loaded document to make sure that they uh get back to court as soon as possible.

Good morning.

Whenever you're ready, judges just introduce yourself and start your presentation.

Okay, hi, good morning.

My name is Candace Bates Anderson.

I am Chief Judge of Orleans Parish Juvenile Court, and I'm here with my colleague today, Miss Judge Clint Smith, as well as our judicial administrator, Miss Yolanda Johnson.

We thank you all for the opportunity to present today before the Criminal Justice Committee.

We here at Juvenile Court appreciate the opportunity, but we've also been instructed that we should keep our presentation to 10 minutes, so we will do our best.

Thank you.

OPJC plays a vital role in protecting public safety while recognizing the unique needs and potential for rehabilitation in young people.

Public safety is the foundation of a thriving community.

When people feel safe, they are more engaged, businesses invest in neighborhoods grow stronger.

Our priorities center on prevention, preparedness, safety, and trust.

Each of these requires investment in people, training, and partnerships.

We continue as a court to focus on innovative tools and community-driven solutions.

Technology is important, but so are people.

Partnerships and outreach programs.

We will share where we are today, challenges we are facing, and how we will continue to work toward our mission.

Our vision statement, the judges of Orleans Parish Juvenile Court believe that through a unified voice and collaboration, the New Orleans juvenile justice system can be a leader in administering fair and equal justice, provide individualized comprehensive and effective programs for delinquent and neglected youth, and ensure accountability that builds safe, resilient families and communities.

Our mission is to provide a court of excellence for children, youth, and families by enforcing the Louisiana Children's Code.

All right, and good morning.

Our current budget and staffing.

The court's approved 2026 operating budget is $3,07, reflecting a reduction of $342,437 from the prior year.

As a result, the court was required to eliminate eight critical positions.

On February 2nd, 2026, the city implemented a revised hiring freeze policy, which has significantly impacted the court's ability to fill essential vacancies.

In compliance with this policy, the court submitted and received approval of a hiring freeze exemption for a case manager's position, a role already funded within the court's 2026 budget.

The court proceeded by entering the requisition into the city's neo-government system.

However, after initial approval, the position was subsequently placed on hold, pending broader legislative discussions.

At present, the court also has two additional vacancies, a data analyst as of one 2026, and a court clerk's two as of 2026 due to resignation.

As of today, we have received a two-week notice that we created another vacancy for a law clerk making a total of four key vacancies.

Further limiting its capacity to meet increasing service demands.

Given the on-hold status of the case manager's position, the court has not moved forward with filling vacancies.

However, timely resolution of critical staffing needs, particularly for positions already approved and budgeted, is essential to maintain an effective court operation and serving our community.

Senate Bill 217 proposes structural changes to the court system in Orleans Parish specifically.

Number one, reduction in the number of judges.

Number two, addresses the overall administration of courts in Orleans Parish.

Number three, it's part of a broader push to reconfigure judicial resources and court structure.

And number four, it is currently pending in Senate Judiciary A Committee.

Last year, Orleans Parish Juvenile Court handled a total of 6,02 delinquency cases, 1,822 child in need of care cases, 170 traffic cases, FINS cases, informal fins cases, adoptions, etc.

for a total of 8,582 cases in families that were taken care of in Orleans Parish Juvenile Court.

Also, overview of Senate Bill 217 has a sweeping reform that wouldn't completely restructure the Orleans Parish Court system, consolidate multiple courts into a single unified court, as well as reduce the number of judges, merge administrative functions, including the clerk of court, and potentially absorb or eliminate Orleans Parish Juvenile Court, which is in House Bill 911.

In theory, both Senate Bill 217 and 911 are about fundamental questions.

Are we using accurate data to make this judicial decisions about the judicial structure at Orleans Parish Juvenile Court?

Because the decisions made as a result of these bills would directly determine how justice is administered, but in practice, both Senate Bill 217 and House Bill 911 propose significant structural changes, including the relocation of judgeships, consolidation of court functions, and potential restructuring of jurisdiction.

Some of the things that the numbers don't show, at Orleans Parish Juvenile Court, a single filing does not represent a single unit of work.

It represents a case that can and often does generate multiple hearings over time.

It is a process in which children are brought forward to the court, sometimes as a continued custody hearing, in that same case filing, potentially an answer hearing, in that same case filing, potentially rules to show cause or rules for contempt.

In that same case filing, sometimes a result of an adjudication, sometimes commitment reviews, sometimes dispositions, status hearings, probation reviews, permanency hearings.

So each of these requires judicial time, preparation, and careful decision making.

The OPJC data shows that as a result of the filings, 1,406 filings, it can sometimes result in multiple hearings that include in the amount of over 8,500 hearings, sometimes in a total year, which is done by the four judges of Orleans Parish Juvenile Court.

Judicial workload is largely measured using case filings.

The data is then converted into workload estimates to the Louisiana Supreme Court's Supreme Court's weighted caseload study.

Let's be careful that we have to make sure that accuracy shows the amount of cases and amount of times that a child might come in front of the judges of Orleans Parish Juvenile Court.

We have to ask ourselves through our data system if we're doing the best of our ability to do our counting and our filings, but making sure that we make certain that the lives, the community, the public, safety, transparency, equality, and the ability to see our kids as they come before the Orleans Parish Juvenile Court cannot be considered in a case filing alone.

There's also some issues that go directly to our families.

Not all jurisdictions report their workloads in the same way.

Some courts include additional proceedings, some courts count broader categories.

However, at Orleans Parish Juvenile Court, we count filings, leaving thousands of hearings unaccounted for for the amount of time that once a single filing is done or created, and the amount of time that that life might have to be touched.

Sometimes we look at comparisons that are not always on even playing fields, but certainly we have always invited and offered the opportunity to see the work that occurs at Orleans Parish Juvenile Court, from trials to adoptions to child in need of care to permanency to delinquency to diversion to reunification for child in need of care, for families in need of services, or even if you just need to come there in order to get an outfit from OPJC's closet.

Data is not always fully reliable, but we are doing our best, even with not having the opportunity to fulfill that data position that has remained open at Orleans Parish Juvenile Court.

We risk making decisions that don't always have the complete picture.

The most important consequence is the quality of judicial oversight and juvenile matters could possibly be diminished.

The issue is not whether the work exists, because it clearly does.

Current data indicates that OPJC is operating with the workload equivalently to approximately far more judges than are currently on our bench.

While we are staffed with four judges and limited staff, as we've presented to you all today, we are doing the work with 25 employees at Orleans Paris Juvenile Court under the City of New Orleans budget.

We continue to move forward, push forward by working with community partners, collaborations with the district attorney's office through diversion, collaborations with Office of Juvenile Justice, collaborations with the Supreme Court, collaborations with the court, and collaborations with the community that we serve.

Even the studies that have been conducted rely on averages and that all local conditions matter.

At Orleans Paris Juvenile Court, the intensity, the frequency of proceedings exceed many of those averages.

So we ask that before the opportunity is given to restructure, reallocate, relocate, continuously drop our budget, not allow us to complete and offer the positions that have already been approved, not allowed to fill those positions so that we can continue to do the work, that we would like everyone to just take an opportunity to look at reality, look at reality at 1100 Milton Street, and come to those doors and see the work that happens.

In closing, this is more than about numbers.

It is about ensuring that our courts and all courts, no matter what legislation is pending, what ideas are brewing, that we still from the city of New Orleans need the resources that were supposed to be allocated to us.

At our initial reduction of our budget at the start of 2026, we agreed, and we were able to find eight positions and move forward in the reallocation.

Now we have four additional positions that have been unable to be filled.

We're working at half mass with less than what we feel our community, our children, our judges deserve.

We are trying to protect the integrity of the judicial process.

We are making decisions that strengthen, not strain the administration of justice.

When the workload is underestimated and the system does not always adjust, the burden simply shifts to the courts and the judges and ultimately the public.

Thank you so much for the uh opportunity present today.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Um the day is well, uh Judge Addison and Judge Smith, I thank you for your presentation.

Um who is sponsoring?

Do you know the person uh sponsoring the bill to reduce the number of judges being sponsored by House Bill 217 and House Bill 911 and Senate Bill 217?

Right.

So are you asking for the representatives?

Yes.

I think this is we can provide that to you.

We have copies of all the bills we can provide.

I I want to know that I want to go on the record and ask.

Whoever that representative is to come visit juvenile court to visit criminal court before they sponsor a bill that would hinder the productivity of those courts.

So, Councilman, the representative uh that's sponsoring House Bill 9-11 is representative Dicen Macin M-A-K-I-N out of Baton Rouge.

Uh and I think it's Mike McCarron.

Um 217.

I do not recall right offhand.

Dyson Mike McCarrin.

Well, regardless who I don't want to mispronounce their names, um, I've got the wrong information now, but I will ask though.

Have they ever been to the courts?

To my knowledge, they have not.

They have not.

So it's kind of difficult to say what's needed and was not needed in the city that you never visit for these reasons.

And to go to reduce the numbers of court personnel in the courtroom that you never visited.

It's clearly politically motivated, and I just would ask that those individuals who are suggesting that you all don't need as many judges or the staff isn't needed to visit the courtrooms and look at the work being done, and more importantly, look at the lives of that could potentially be affected.

Because while political games are being played at Baton Rouge, real lives are being affected in New Orleans.

Councilman, we thank you for your continued support of not only our court but also of the kids.

And I might add too that while uh the judges' salaries are funded by the state, our positions uh within the court are funded by the city, and we do have four key city positions that we are waiting on funding.

Those positions uh were not part of the the freeze at some point.

They are key positions, case managers, staff attorneys, uh data analysts, so that we can provide accurate numbers so that we do have somebody that's doing that work, and those are four positions that we are still waiting on hold from the CEO with the city of New Orleans.

So if that was something that the council would be willing to look into, those are positions that are not funded by the state, so it should not be impacted by um the legislation that is pending, but they have been put on hold.

That's concerned.

Well, I I don't know the details about that, Judge, but I do know we have several employees including a council members on furloughs, so it's it's hard to fund another agency when we can't fund our own.

No, we understand.

We just wanted to make it point point definitely taken.

Um you have a comment from Mr.

Bert Lodrig.

Lodric.

Okay.

Sorry for the mispronunciation.

27 yes, uh Bert Lodrick, uh 3438 in that street.

Um I'd just like to uh make uh observation.

Um my grandfather who was a builder many many years ago, Louis Charbonney Jr.

mentioned um the proper usage of land.

Um that um that location uh where the uh the the juvenile jail is built.

That's prime real estate along Bayou St.

John.

Um, you know, uh along Imperial Drive, uh that would that was a problem also before where low-income housing was built on that uh on that area.

So uh really that's um you know that's really uh an oversight on the you know selection of that location.

Also in marketing's chart that uh certain uh entities are built together, the court systems are built together, uh stores are built together, so forth and so on.

So uh it really logically it would be more uh efficient if the jail was built near you know other civic uh other civic uh entities.

In addition to that, thirdly, in closing, I just don't understand how the Orleans Parish School School Board has decided to replace McDonald 35 and building a school, you know, within steps of a jail.

Uh I mean it's just uh a game is just uh you know uh absolute failure of the of the system.

Thank you for allowing me to uh speak.

Very welcome.

Any closing remarks, judges none?

Yes, that's any of your presentation.

Yes, thank you very much for your opportunity to speak today.

Thank you.

You're very welcome.

Mr.

Chair, yes, councilman.

I appreciate your presentation, it's just not your present to you, but I just want to make sure because I get calls about all these things that are said publicly.

There is no move on the part of the Arleans Parish public school system to replace McDonald 35.

Just want to make that clear.

The youth studies center has been at that location for decades.

I remember in the 70s, people used to talk about the youth study center being at that location.

That campus is created from something that already existed, the youth study center.

That's all.

But McDonald 35 exist and coexist with the um juvenile justice intervention center and the juvenile courts right next door.

There is no move to close a school.

That's a fact.

Mr.

Lodric, you said that there was a move to replace 35.

That is not correct, and I don't want to get the calls.

I don't want to go to the community meetings based on misinformation.

That's misinformation.

You absolutely said that.

You absolutely said that.

Okay, well, let me tell you, there's no move.

Thank you, Councilman.

There's no move to replace 35.

Uh that is soundly in District D.

Ryan.

Including Saturday.

All right, we're gonna move to um item number three, and from here we're gonna stay with the uh with the agenda where we all have any more judges to present.

So we're gonna have presenters for presentation for well for item number three to come forward to the desk, please.

I think three.

Item number three.

I think I think that's y'all.

And before you all get started, just want to read a quick statement.

So I want to thank our criminal justice partners, our DA, Chief of Police, members of the judiciary, sheriff, police monitor, and all agencies representative, all age all agency representatives for being here and for your continued service.

We value your partnership.

Look forward to working together towards our shared goal of a safer city.

This committee is expanding its focus.

We will respond to crime while responding, responding to crime remains critical.

Uh, we are also committed to addressing the root causes that leads lead to crime.

We are seeing a clear trend in juvenile crime, much of it nonviolent theft, that tells us we must do more to guide our youth, create meaningful opportunities, and support those most impacted before they enter into deeper um trouble.

To that end, we will be using the 10 pillars of the thriving community as our framework, examining the social, uh, economic, and environmental conditions that shape public safety.

Each meeting we will focus on one pillar with the goal of raising awareness and advancing policy, legislative, and budget solutions.

We're fortunate to have a volunteer working group of dedicated professionals, professors, and professors to help guide this effort.

Their expertise and more importantly, their willingness to serve is exactly what this work requires.

So at this time, we will invite um our presenters to have them introduce themselves to discuss the 10 pillars of the thriving community.

Floor is yours.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Good morning, Dr.

Rainman Delaney, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, Southern University at New Orleans, and also CEO of Louisiana Council of Resources.

Good morning.

I'm Dr.

Ashraf Ismail, associate professor of criminal justice at Dillard University, and I also serve as a director for the Center for Racial Justice at Dillard.

Good morning.

I am uh Dr.

Heidi Coleman.

I am the education administration specialist for operation restoration.

Good morning.

My name is Katina Wharton.

I am a professor at Dillard University.

I'm also a uh local social worker for uh nonprofit organization.

Good morning.

I'm Ryson Shelton.

I'm the founder and CEO of an agency called Release Nola that helps 18 to 25 years old returning from incarceration with mental health issues and trauma.

So the floor is yours, you all can present.

Okay.

Any way you see fit.

Okay.

So um thank you, Councilman.

Uh the first pillar that we want to address is economic stability and legitimate opportunity.

This includes workforce development, paid transitional employment, immediate financial stability to those who are justice involved, a justice impact and immediately coming from prison to the community, transitional employment, and access to different resources that would help them to obtain employment or to become a viable candidate in the workplace.

This is important because stable employment reduces violent crime and the idealism behind why people commit crimes.

And third was careers, not jobs.

These are the voices of those impacted by the criminal justice system.

And I believe that those items are still relevant and prevalent today, not just uniquely to New Orleans, Louisiana, but throughout this country and throughout this state of Louisiana.

When you look at the key component of economic stability and legitimate opportunity, those components includes livable wages where people can afford to ascertain housing.

As we all know, not living in a stable housing can create all kinds of other psychosis.

So we must have livable wages where people can go to job and become a productive citizen.

As you know, that times are changing.

You got artificial intelligence.

Even at my school, as soon as I'm dealing with uh the youth that are just coming into uh the classroom, uh I'm not teaching them to run away from artificial intelligence, but I am teaching them how to rely on it as a tool and an aid, not as a crutch.

And so that's a process, and I think we should take this opportunity as well as a city as it relates to legitimating legitimizing our workforce.

I do believe it's gonna take a concerted effort, and that effort is just as they did in a bipartisan uh agreement in 2017.

We can do that today, starting here and moving forward.

Um we were I worked with uh the uh foundation for Louisiana, and um we did a landscape analysis, which I would love to present one day and also see if we can take that opportunity as a group here to conduct that landscape analysis as well.

And we found a lot of similarities as it relates to um the different parishes that are uh the highest in recidivism rates.

And those um things that we found was the gangful employment, looking at fair chance employers, uh, education and job skills so that people can be productive and change their life and and and the way that they think.

So that's the first pillar.

I only had two minutes, so I hope I made my case.

Great job, thank you.

Housing is next.

Mr.

Brighton.

Right, sir.

Housing.

Right.

Here in New Orleans, stable housing has been a challenge for a couple of decades now.

Um we know that due to the wage gap and the wage deficiency and relying upon um the hospitality industry industry, most residents in the New Orleans area are on a poverty level or beneath the poverty level.

Housing stability in New Orleans, housing instability continues to impact thousands.

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

580,000 people are homeless nationwide.

So formerly incarcerated individuals are 10 times more likely to experience homelessness.

Um local housing crisis, over 50% of renters are caused burdens in New Orleans.

Several struggle with affordable housing units.

Average housing units for one bedroom is 1,000 dollars.

I I work in housing, my main job is in housing, and what I find in the housing field is the insurance rates and things of that nature has caused landlords to go up in the amount of rent, right?

So with the landlords going up in our amount of rent, that means the housing programs that we have to house the unhoused drive the price up, and it makes the people that can afford housing, it makes it even difficult for the regular citizen, right?

So barriers to access, criminal background restrictions, no rental history or poor credit, limited or unstable income, right?

We know here in New Orleans we are a we are motivated and moved by our systems of festivals, carnival, and things of that nature.

So we are seasonal city, right?

So most residents rely on those seasons to make a nice chunk of money to be able to carry themselves over, right, with their rent portions.

Doing those gaps we find, especially in the industry that I'm working in, that's when people struggle the most with being able to maintain their rent.

Recidivism and public safety is also a part of the housing crisis, lack of housing, increased risk of um reoffending, unemployment, mental health crisis.

Um just speaking on that for a second.

Most individuals coming home from incarceration do not have anywhere to stay.

Even if they wind up staying with a family member, there's still pressure from that family member to get right back to being able to help pay with the bills and stuff like that.

In most cases, that leaves these individuals to struggling with mental health, anxiety, depression, all those things that cause recidivism down the line.

One of the issues, how um trauma informed housing, many individuals face incarceration, community violence, and chronic instability.

Most times violence is born from desperation, right?

And survival.

We look at um violence and crime as a thing like people just wake up and do it, but in most cases, it's because of desperation or just trying to simply survive.

We all know this already.

Um, it's shown in a stats all over the place.

Excuse me.

Affordable equals stability.

Plus standard housing should cost 30% of income.

Individuals start with low wages, low wage income problem.

People get housed but can't maintain it, right?

So, based under the current system, um, the average rent, if it's it's not hub related in the city of New Orleans for a one, two, or three bedroom, averaging around $1,500.

If you want a one bedroom in a nice neighborhood, that's about $1,500.

I'm a social worker and I bring home right now roughly about $1,700 every two weeks.

So I even fall in the demographic of those individuals that can't really afford housing in the city of New Orleans doing the work that I do.

In closing, in New Orleans, the challenge isn't just getting people housed, it's keeping them housed.

Real solutions require more than a roof.

They require access, support, and stability.

When we focus on stable, affordable and secure housing, we don't just change individualized, we strengthen the entire community.

Thank you all.

Council, I just want to add to that.

If we want a safer community, we must expand access to affordable housing, protect residents from displacement, and ensure our policies do not criminalize poverty.

Um I think there is some opportunity here for us to look at modalities that will create pathways and trajectories for ownership, home ownership.

I think that um there are transitional uh housing and uh residential housing that have modalities that are working, but if we fund them properly and address those um things that are critical to each individual, because it's a unique individual, especially when you come to women, women are displaced at a higher rate as well.

Those opportunities can be created for home ownership, which would also increase the value of our communities.

So thank you again for us to um address the first two pillars, and I'll turn it over.

Our colleagues are not here for pillar number three, uh strong social cohesion and formal social control, fairness, legitimacy, and institutional trust.

Uh, we will cover that the next time we meet.

And we're gonna move on to pillar number four, youth development and educational pathways.

Thank you, council members.

Uh, the youth development education pillar focuses on ensuring that young people have clear and supported pathways from childhood and into adulthood.

That includes strong schools, but also includes mentorship, after school programs, workforce exposure, and real opportunities to see a future for themselves in their communities.

When those pathways are strong, young people stay engaged in school, build skills, and connect to careers.

When those pathways are fragmented, they can fall through the cracks.

Research shows that youth violence peaks during the after school hours between 3 and 6 p.m., highlighting how important structured after school programs and youth employment opportunities are for prevention.

Research also shows that relatively small investments can make a measurable difference.

For example, summer youth employment programs have been shown to reduce violent crime arrests among participants by approximately 40%.

That tells us something important.

Investments in youth pathways are not only sound education policy, but they're also some of the most effective prevention strategies we have for strengthening community safety.

In New Orleans, we're proud to say that we are performing better.

We are performing better academically, but yet one in seven young people between the ages of 16 and 24 are considered opportunity youth, meaning they're not currently in school and not working.

And it's my understanding we're the highest in the country, the state of Louisiana.

There are disconnected from both education and employment pathways.

What that tells us is that young people lack potential, rather that too many young people like clear and accessible pathways to opportunity.

When young people have mentorship, structure, and meaningful work, they are far more likely to stay engaged and connected to their communities.

When we look across higher needs areas in New Orleans, we see communities with strong cultural foundations and families deeply invested in their young people.

What we also see are opportunities to strengthen the system to support youth success.

And in New Orleans East, particularly among around the Willows, geographic distance can make it difficult for youth to access programs around the city.

Strengthening school centered youth hubs and transportation access can help ensure that after school programs, mentorship, summer employment applications or opportunities are truly accessible.

Across all three neighborhoods, this lesson is clear.

Young people succeed when they can see a pathway forward.

When we invest in clear pathways for young people through education, through mentorship, and meaningful work, we are investing in long-term strength, stability, and the future of New Orleans.

Thank you.

Are we going to shift to pillar five, Mr.

Brightson?

Health, mental health and trauma services.

I'm gonna do the mental health.

Mental health, um, health, mental health trauma, and crime.

Uh, in the underprivileged communities, the issue is not simply crime.

It is the result of untreated trauma, limited health care access, and systematic gaps in support.

From a professional standpoint, it is critical that we understand that individuals are often navigating environments where trauma is gonna be constant, services are inconsistent and unavailable.

There's also a misdiagnosis among African Americans.

Black psychiatrists of America just held a conference here in New Orleans.

Um, and what they said was we have an issue of misdiagnosing of bipolar psychotic disorders, particularly among black patients due to lack of cultural responsiveness.

According to the Center Disease of Disease Control and Prevention, exposure to adverse childhood experiences significantly increases things like depression, substance use, and violent behavior.

I have a few statistics that kind of shows how we compare to the national average.

When we're looking at suicide rates among the national average, well, here in New Orleans, we have 15.7 per 100,000.

Among the national average, we have 14.1 per 100,000.

Mental health mental health shortages, we have 93 percent of the population, and we have a national average of 38% of the population.

Depression diagnosis, we have 26.6% here in Louisiana.

The national average focuses on about 18 to 21 percent.

Here in Louisiana, in particular New Orleans, the ratio of residents to psychiatrists can exceed 20,000 to 1.

We can also tie mental health to incarcerated individuals.

Approximately 64% of incarcerated individuals have a diagnosis mental health condition.

Suicide as our leading cause.

Suicide is the third leading cause of death for Louisiana residents ages 10 to 24 years old.

In closing, when individuals are provided with the appropriate tools, the resources, and the support systems, they are better positioned to transition from survival-based behaviors to goal-oriented and community focused living.

Thank you.

Our colleagues are not here, so again, we'll address this at the next meeting.

We're going to shift to number seven, trustworthy, legitimate policing and justice system.

Turn it over to Mr.

Bryson.

Bryson Shelton again.

Trustworthiness, legitimate policing and justice system.

We need not make any mistake.

So the citizens of New Orleans are traumatized based upon issues from the 90s in the early 2000s where over policing due to the crack epidemic where stopping FRISP was a major thing.

Just going to the corner store in your neighborhood was if you leave out the store, the police could stop you just for any reason because you look like you were doing something you didn't have anything to do.

So the community has not moved past that, even though we have signs that things are changing, right?

Trust in law enforcement is not about crime reduction.

It's about legitimate fairness and wealth and whether the community truly believes in the system.

In New Orleans, progress is happening, but trust is still uneven and the gap matters.

In most cases, most of the individuals in New Orleans don't even assist the police with certain things because they fear that something they have going on, a family member have going on, might create an issue for that individual.

That's a part of the problem, even with witnesses, right?

Most witnesses are afraid to come forward because they think some kind of way that their name is going to come up and they have to deal with neighborhood retaliation, right?

So that's a part of the issue as far as the community goes.

Current data driven, um, this just came out as early as 2026, 55% of residents reported satisfaction with New Orleans police department.

That's an eight-point increase since last year, right?

That's 53% black, 59% um white, and 60%, 66% feel safe citywide.

Um 87% safe in their own neighborhoods.

People trust their experience daily, not the full system, right?

So in certain neighborhoods that still kind of overpolice, people still have a skewered view of the police system and how things go, right?

So they are more likely in those areas to be resistant to the police, more violent behavior and things of that nature, is what the article talked about when I did this research.

Um, key issues impacting trust, inconsistent community trust, policing practices and community harm, right?

Higher stop and frisk activity has been linked to increased violent crime, showing that aggressive enforcement strategies can damage both trust and police safety.

Transparency and accountability.

A lot of citizens don't feel like the police department is transparent in the things that they do, right?

Or the judicial system in general.

Um officers, mental health and um internal culture, right?

Officers need to be allowed to have mental health services available to them, trauma, um, counseling sessions and things of that nature without being, without fear of retaliation or losing a job based upon those things.

Building a better system.

Community-based policing.

When I was growing up in the 90s, we had police that stayed in our neighborhoods, right?

Like there were residents in the neighborhood, so you know on certain streets that officer so-and-so stayed there.

That's not a thing that we see much in New Orleans these days, right?

Um, and that was something that was very pivotal back then.

Strengthen accountability, uh, shift from enforcement to prevention, data, and community voices, trauma informed policing.

This is the role that the community should play.

Active engagement, accountability on all sides.

One of the things we are big with at release knowledge is teaching families to hold their family members accountable.

Most times people don't hold their family members accountable, especially when it comes to crime because they feel like they'll be overcharged or something like that.

So you might have a cousin that you know is wanted for a particular charge, but you won't turn them in because you're afraid that the charges will increase.

But if people knew that the judicial system was going to be fair to their loved ones and the people in their community, then it would be more up in order to assist the police with certain issues.

Coordinate with purpose.

So that means the community and the police department and the justice system all need to coordinate.

Support return to citizens.

That is a big thing here in the city of New Orleans, people coming home from incarceration, right?

We just spoke on that.

Housing, jobs, employment, and mental health services.

A lot of times with people returning home from incarceration, we focus on the get a job, get a house, but we need a mental health aspects of it to the wayside.

Most of these individuals have been in situations where before incarceration, they were dealing with stress and trauma due to the neighborhood they were growing up in.

Then when they got to being incarcerated, they had to deal with learning the rules of being incarcerated and how that society works.

So we all know that when you switch in environments for long periods of times, it does something to your psyche.

So then you come home to an environment that has changed for many years since you've been gone, and you're being asked to just catch up and get a job and get somewhere to stay.

But the mind needs to be retrained to understand that the things that went on while incarcerated don't apply to out here, and people need to have compassion along the way.

So those are the um the things in which we feel that would um help with trustworthy um legitimate police and justice system.

Thank you.

Our next pillar is access to services and daily necessities.

This pillar focuses on something that is really practical.

Whether residents can reliably access everyday resources that support stability.

That includes food, health care, child care, transportation, social services.

Access is not simply about whether they exist somewhere in the city.

It's about whether people can realistically reach and use those services in their communities.

When we look across high need areas in New Orleans, we consistently see a few common patterns.

First, many residents are navigating multiple systems at once.

They're trying to access health care, employment, child care, social services, and those are often located across different areas of the city.

Second, services are frequently geographically fragmented, that requires long travel times, multiple appointments, and complex coordination.

Third, even when these services exist, they're often difficult to navigate, especially for residents who are balancing work and family responsibilities or re-entry after incarceration.

At the same time, these communities also have strong assets.

They include deep social networks, trusted community organizations, and residents who are deeply committed to their neighborhood and family.

There's a policy opportunity here, and that's to better align services with the daily realities of these residents.

This could include co-locating services so residents can access multiple supports in one place, strengthening transportation connection to jobs, health care, and child care, and investing in community-based organizations that help residents navigate these systems and access these services more effectively.

When these essential services are accessible, coordinated, and located where people live, families are better able to stabilize their lives.

As this work continues, we also look forward to developing ways to measure how these pillars show up across these neighborhoods and where these gaps remain.

When we reduce the barriers to meeting daily needs, we make it easier for the residents to succeed, and that is one of the most direct ways that we can strengthen communities across this city.

Thank you.

I think for the last two, actually, uh our colleagues are you gonna number okay, sorry?

Number nine would be um cultural identity and pride.

The reality in the city of New Orleans culture is everything.

But the very communities that created that culture are being pushed out.

Rising housing costs, displacement, incarceration have disconnected people from their roots, families, and neighborhoods.

When people lose connection to their identity, they lose sense of belonging, self-worth, and accountability.

One of the things I've been working on with the coalition is trying to get the Modigran Indians and Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs to work together in order to like do things within the community.

They are truly not just our culture bearers at this point, but they are those people in each community that the community deals with in respect.

One of the things that I've been getting from them over and over again is a lack of trust, right?

Like we spend our money to do this thing for the city to hold the culture, but they sometimes feel like the city is not showing them the love back in return, right?

So that's one of the big things, feeling disconnected from the community.

The effects of this is higher crime rates, lower civil engagement, and increased mental health struggles.

If y'all notice we have uh uh uh a repeating theme, right?

Incarceration and mental health through each one of these pillars, right?

So that's something that I feel like we really need to focus on while we're working on this coalition.

Um poverty rates are around 22% in the city of New Orleans, right?

Why culture matters?

Culture is not just second lines, food and music.

It's identity, history, survival, and pride.

I myself is a member of Associated Pleasure Club, and I come from a family that were modigry Indians, right?

And what I have noticed, most of our younger people do not even know or understand why social aid pleasure clubs were created in the first place.

They enjoy going to the second lines, but they don't fully understand that original associated pleasure clubs were pillars of their community.

They did events in the community, help people pay bills and stuff like that.

And the actual second line was a culmination of that at the end of the season, right?

So a lot of younger people, they don't even notice about the history of second line and the social aid pleasure club culture because it's just viewed as partying at this point, right?

That's one of the things that's lost, even down to the historical Tremay area, right?

A lot of our young people don't know that throughout history, that area has maintained and stayed basically a culturally black neighborhood throughout decades of in New Orleans.

But they don't know that.

So those things are why we need to stay connected to our culture in the city of New Orleans and push our culture to the younger generation.

Without our culture, there is no pride, and without no pride, there is no New Orleans.

Thank y'all.

Thank you.

Well, at this time, that that concludes our uh introduction of our ten pillars.

Uh these are pillars that we've been working over the last two months, kind of highlighting the areas that we wanted to uh work on under your leadership and the criminal justice coalition.

Moving forward, we want to really kind of break these pillars down.

Hopefully, with the uh resources of the council, we can move forward to make you know proper adjustments moving forward.

Thank you.

Thank you, Doctor.

We're definitely going to break down uh each pillar at uh future criminal justice meetings.

But we want to just give everyone an introduction as to what we're gonna be discussing moving forward.

Um so any comments from the days?

Councilman Green, Council Harris, none?

No, I just want to thank you all for um your your work and um for introducing to the public the ten pillars and just to let you know that um we all know that whereas things are moving in the right direction relative to crime reduction, there's still so much more that can be done that we don't have to be a city of any crime whatsoever.

I guess I do want to say that um I want to ask you all to be deliberate about letting, especially young people know that public services are there to assist them.

Um that there's no need to be antagonistic relative to you know um law enforcement, even fire department, even uh EMF.

Sometimes I see that there's a general, not a general at all.

Some folks have a distrust of government that unfortunately means that government can't deliver to them the services that they need.

Just yesterday I was on um Clayborn Avenue for the an aftermath of the um downtown Super Sunday, and I saw an accident where um a motorcycle crashed into a truck, and the guy was flipped over a couple of times and he fell under the cement.

But um immediately citizens reacted, and then the first people to show up were the fire department and the police department afterwards.

That just reminds me that there are so many benefits to be gained when there's a feeling of trust and people work together.

So I just want to encourage you to, and I'll assist in whatever way it is that I can to encourage young people, especially since you brought that up, to recognize that that government assistance in terms of law enforcement and public safety can work with them, and that there's no need to immediately immediately be antagonistic.

Yesterday was a good example of how citizens and law enforcement and public safety came together to save or to help an individual.

And I just want to see that going more throughout the city.

And the citizens who were there first who responded were pleased when they saw the police show up and EMS show up and was and remained on the scene in case they could help that young person who was injured.

So just that's all.

It's just a generalization that I all I want to work with you and you all continue to work.

Let's let people know, especially young people know that there are resources that can assist them on the public safety level that they should take advantage of and work with them.

Yeah, councilman.

Um thank you for that.

We are I always say we are a nation in crisis, plagued by trauma.

So a lot of things that we're facing today is uh systemic and it goes way back.

But what I like about today's meeting and the meetings we've been having for the last two months is that we're all intentional, and it's accountability is paramount for all of us, and so we would do just that to ensure that our youth are educated, that awareness is taking place, because even as a criminalologist, um I often wonder are we you know facing apathy or agitation antagonism?

I'm sorry, I got tongue twisted.

And um, but I think today and moving forward we can change that trajectory because we are doing the work um at hand.

So thank you for this opportunity, and we appreciate y'all.

Thank you.

Are you going to have some public comments?

First from Ms.

Scott.

Ms.

Scott, you have D and D some.

I'll take that back.

Uh so let me ask you this.

We have a couple cards.

They have different sub sections that you want to speak on.

So, Ms.

Scott, you have D and B listed.

Um B has already gone.

And D has not presented yet.

So you just do still care to speak.

Yeah, I would like to speak about the uh the pillars.

Okay.

Okay.

Good morning.

Members of the criminal justice committee.

My name is Shantae Scott.

I am the mother of Jay Slee Scott.

As you discuss the pillars of a driving community, justice, equity, and public trust.

I am here to tell you that none of those pillars can stand without accountability.

My son, Jesse Scott was murdered November 24th, 2019 by NOPD officer Victor Gantt's son, Andrew Gantt.

For over six years, my family have been seeking truth and transparency about what happened that night.

A thriving community requires trust in its institutions.

But when protocols are broken, when families cannot access records and when questions go unanswered, that trust is damaged, like the councilman Eugene Green just stated.

And my trust has been damaged by NOPD and the criminal court system.

Justice is not just in concept.

It is something families must be able to see, feel, and experience.

And I haven't, due to the corruption of NOPD Officer Victor Gantt Jr., he broke protocol.

And if we are serious about building a thriving and equitable community, then we must also be serious about accountability when it comes to systems that fails families.

Like mine.

And a truly thriving community must reflect that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Scott.

I just want to be very clear.

You you filled out six cards.

Are you okay?

The next card is on subsection G, so we haven't gotten there yet, so we'll call this card when we get to Section G.

Um.

Next, we're gonna have Juvenile Justice and Adventure Center, Mr.

Shelle Williams come with a presentation.

Miss Williams, just introduce yourself and you can you can begin your presentation.

All right, I'm Dashell Williams.

I'm an executive director of the Juvenile Justice Intervention Center.

And today I bring with me Miss Kyla Meuse, who's our training coordinator at JJIC, and also our grievance officer, Mr.

Compton Peters, who's our chief engineer, and Mr.

Gabrielle Bordenave, who's our fiscal manager.

Good morning, counsel.

Good morning.

In our first quarter, uh JJIC, we took in 84 new admits with the top charge, the top detention charges were robbery, assault and battery, remanded from court, and illegal carrying and discharge of weapons.

We had critical and zero critical incidents in the first quarter, and we discharge 86 youth.

We have eight youth pending OJJ transfer with the average length of state is 113 days for our youth.

Youth demographics is basically average age is 15.

We have uh 10% female, 89% male, with 92% of the 89 being uh black, uh African American, 6% uh Latino, and 1% white, non-Hispanic.

JGIC also has an intensive in-home community supervision program.

Currently enrolled, we have 18 youth.

We serve as 73 youth and families in the first quarter.

73 youth were enrolled, 16 successfully graduated, 10 were unsuccessful, and zero were re-arrested.

Through our uh medical and behavioral health services with our contract with children with many family children's.

We service 67 uh youth a day, according to our average daily census, 190 mental health visits, 153 medical visits, 66 social work visits, 139 sick calls, and 21 outside off-campus appointments were completed.

Children's hospital also hired a new clinical manager, Miss Catherine Stoner.

Uh, one full-time nurse is pending.

Full-time, another an additional full-time social worker is pending after a retirement of one of the uh last social workers, and transition is in progress from paper charts to epic charts.

Travis Hill Nola, which provides education inside of JGIC.

We had two graduation ceremonies this quarter.

We had five graduates.

60% of the students are with us for 90 plus days that were with us for 90 plus days grew two grades level in reading.

40% of the students that was with us for 90 plus days grew two grades level in math, and we have an upcoming graduation.

I want to say for the latter part of June of this year.

Um, as far as some enrichment students will have the opportunity to recover credits, earn new credits, and participate in enrichment activities and middle and for the middle of the school year.

We are preparing for the spring ACT test.

Um testing complete with 100% participation, restorative practices continue with students and staff participating in circles, with some led by students, and 100% of release of release students are re-enrolled in community schools.

All right, this is the highlight.

Our our um JJIC and the partnership for structured rehabilitated programming with Umbutu Village.

So this has been a long time coming.

I've sat before the council many times talking about bringing back structured programming to enhance the quality of life for the youth at JJIC programming begin in March.

It takes place seven days a week.

It's a busy, busy schedule inside the agency.

30 plus hours of programming per week.

To date, 66 youth have participated in programming with the topics, including painting, tutoring, basketball, gaming, social emotional learning, yoga, mindfulness, art therapy, music, and video production, podcasting, reef therapy, sexual health, wellness, and awareness, anger management, conflict, conflict resolution and dance therapy.

All right.

Okay, good morning, um members of the council.

As far as building maintenance and infrastructure at JGIC, it is in a critical condition.

Last year we did some repairs on the chillers, but we still there's still work to be done.

The coils are bad.

To bring it in perspective, the chillers are on our roof.

And through the years of hurricanes and just weather wearing it down, it has reached a point where we really should be considering replacement.

Because if we replace the coils, you know, I mean, they are like 14 years old as far as the chillers go, and especially because they're out in the um in the weather like that, it really takes a toll when you have hurricanes and stuff.

A hurricane may not damage it, like to make it where you have to replace it right away, but it erodes at uh over time.

Um so we are you know, we are at the position where we should be considering replacement.

Uh repairs will cost approximately 250,000 to get new coils so that they could be back to 100%, or replacement would be like twice that a month, it'd be like 200,000 per unit, and we have two units.

So that's something that I know the city doesn't have money, but it's something that we'd be looking at, and we'd be making um a bid to try to see if we could secure some type of funds because at this rate, if we just do nothing, we're not gonna last, we're not gonna make it through the summer.

You know, we'll we'll be really and there's no windows.

So we did were able to get the generators fixed, so the generators are fully uh functional, and there's also for the cameras, uh we have like 68 cameras that are out, and well, every area is critical, but like the gym and many of the residents halls, they um the camera, some of the cameras are out.

They're 68 and all, and we need a server to replace it with a cost of 40,000.

So hopefully we uh we'll be able to get funding to mass this grinder pumps.

Yeah, also we had a project that is in process of replacing the grinder pumps for the septic.

Um JJIC is a unique facility because of our occupants, they will throw everything down the toilets.

And it were causing problems for the uh soldiers and water board always having to come and clog our drains or sewer lines.

So um back in 2019, grinder pumps were installed on the lines, but they were they were not adequate, they're not adequate.

So there's a project in hand that is supposed to replace those grinder pumps so it could be more effective because right now uh we're uh always having to call the plumbers to unclog lines.

So um, but I think because of the funding that has stalled also.

So that's another project that um that is critical to JJIC that we hoping that that it would look better for funding.

You have we have a question.

Uh thank you for that and the update on your facilities.

Is there any way that you can send all of the council members a breakdown of the costs for each repair that you need?

Yes.

And did you approach the state at all for any capital outlay money?

No.

That might be something that you want to do is reach out to your representative and senator to see if there's any money available from capital outlay from the state.

I will follow up.

Councilman Green.

Well, bringing up the state as councilmember Harris did puts me in my position to say one of the reasons that we have such a tremendous deficit problem in our city is that we have a hybrid of organizations that, for example, just the juvenile courts that were here recently.

The state pays the salaries of the judges, but the city pays the salaries of all of the other employees, and they are all there on state charges.

The state determines the age, for example, if they're gonna be tried as adults and the like.

Um I could go on for a while, and you all know kind of what I'm gonna say.

We have all got to ask the state for more.

I don't care if it's an organized fashion in which we come together as a council with organizations that have financial needs, but we're gonna hear from um other offices where the city of New Orleans assumes the charges or the payment of bills for entities that work with individuals, all of whose charges are state charges.

It's not municipal court, it's state charges.

And now during this budgetary crisis that we're having, which is real, which is real, we're beginning to see a little bit more about how this city, which has a less than a billion dollar budget, provides funding for and support for state responsibilities for a state that has a $53 billion budget, 51 to 53, whatever it is.

We have all got to get together and ask the state for more, and the state has got to be willing to help.

I know that in the past it was easy for the city to assume all the responsibilities relative to state operations that we assume, whether we be like yesterday on the state, the city responding with four different agencies to something that happened on a state thoroughfare, whether it be the city of New Orleans um decommissioning and working with encampments that are on state property.

The city, the state owns the superdome, the convention center, the arena, everything along the navigable waterways, brings in billions of dollars based on city activities and support, and yet we provide so much in support of the state operations.

So my conclusion is that I want to work with you, and we should all work together and we should ask the state for more assistance, whatever we have to do, and that's capital outlay, and it's also direct appropriations because the state has the money, they choose to do with it what they want.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

So just some to highlight again, some of the successes that JJ experienced in the first quarter.

We returned to rehabilitative therapeutic construction programming.

We finalized our medical and behavior service contract, we successfully implemented our new jail management software, uh, e-supervision through tiler technology, and JJIC has aggressively uh reduced and successfully maintained within approved budget limits our over time.

We know we are in a crisis and we are not just going um roll with the with the revenue that we do have.

Well, thank you, Ms.

Williams.

Um I comments.

We do have a comment from Tony Jones.

We ask that you give your name and your address, please.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi y'all.

My name's Tony.

Uh I live at 211 Dumain Street.

Uh, I'm gonna speak on the juvenile question.

Um, and you know, when we're talking about resources that uh the juvenile system has, uh I think that can't be separated from uh the unequal outcomes that black youth have experienced that lead to such a strain on resources of our juvenile system.

What I mean by that is in our 2024 bias fee policing report by the NOPD, uh, we saw that 80% of all arrests were black, uh and only 17% were white.

This is not because black people are criminals, but because we experienced unequal outcomes uh at the hands of NOPD, and it may be the state, you know, uh working through the cases, but it is the NOPD that ends up arresting our youth in the first place.

Uh and the reason this is a concern for me today is that when these youth get these unequal outcomes, uh they experience that not only as youth, but when they grow up or when they don't have the chance to grow up, like in the case of J Slee Scott, uh, who was murdered and had his murder uh improperly handled by the criminal justice system.

Uh, and when we see that happen, we need to uh demand that the NOPD actually start treating black people, especially black youth, uh, with the same fair treatment.

And I think if this council wants to work towards equal outcomes for our youth, uh we need to start with accountability in cases like Jace's, and I would ask the council to tirelessly investigate uh Victor Gant in order to uh get him properly fired.

I would like the council to be our friend in this and not our opposition, and we'll have more to say to that later.

We have a late comment card from this Sean Coleman.

Sean Coleman.

Hello, how y'all going?

My name's Sion Coleman.

I'm actually here for Junius Coleman.

My son was murdered November 2nd, 2022 at the New Orleans East Library, where they ruled this suicide, and my son wasn't suicidal.

Um I seen my son the morning and the night of his death, and he had no suicide Tennessee.

He was lowered to the library under pretense from his baby mom.

He um also policemen that I say involved is robbery, Marsha Thompson, Donna Sharp, Mike Max Schuyler, Keith Sanchez, Darrell Du Set, Paran Gaines, Kevin Burns.

I talked to all these, and all them wanted to be, all they wanted to be was suicide, and my son wasn't suicidal.

Also, they took them two years to give me pictures from the coroner's office, and the coroner's office pictures showed that he had knocks on the left side of his head, he got a gash in his head, his teeth knocked out his mouth.

He also someone called me from his phone at 1 45 p.m.

And how could he call me from his phone if he did?

How could he beat himself up?

How could he knock his teeth out?

You know, a lot of my son crime scene was staged, and that's all I'm here for in Justice for Junius Coleman.

Thank y'all.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Next, we're going to have the sheriff's office come up and make a presentation.

I don't see it.

Oh, I just gonna do that.

Can you click the point?

Can you sit there?

Okay, good morning.

Morning.

And thank you for the opportunity to provide an update on the work of the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office.

We always appreciate the chance to return to this body and share the progress that we've made.

Congratulations to the new city council.

I look forward to working with you for the remainder of my term.

Today's update is going to focus on measurable progress on public safety facility security and community engagement.

We're going to talk about our continued commitment to safe and constitutional operations and the work we are doing to prepare OPSO for the future.

Today I have here with me Chief Jaworski Mallet, Chief Corrections, CAO Chief Administrative Officer Troy Glover, and Senior Executive Assistant Kashna Jones Lee.

And to start off, I'm going to turn it over to Chief Mallet for an update on our facility.

I am Jay Mallet, Chief of Corrections.

Today, March 30th, 2026, the jail population is 1,276.

Of that 1,276, 1,126 are pretrial detainees.

150 are departmental corrections inmates.

That consists of those that are sentenced, parole violators with open charges, and just parole hold waiting on parole hearings.

Today we have uh 409 high security inmates, 476 medium custody, and 381 low security.

It was a very rigorous audit audit.

You have to have 100% on mandatory standards.

That's dealing with safety, emergency preparedness, staffing and health care.

Moving on to uh facility upgrades in regards to hardening.

Uh Orleans Parish Sheriff offers renovated 260 sales in our high security units and our administrative segregation units.

That renovation entails uh surface mounted locks to address the locking deficiencies and continuous hinges, uh, which run along the base of those sales, makes it a little bit harder for the population to manipulate and tamper with the sales and the locks.

That represents 35% of uh uh facility.

We also uh increased hardening of the facility by installing additional razor wires and perimeter fencing, and this was uh done as a containment measure to limit uh and eliminate further breaches of security.

Turn it over now to Chief Glover.

Thank you, Chief Mallet.

So I want to first um say a little bit about our jail management system that'll be coming into play over the next few months.

Um this is a huge success for the administration and for the criminal justice system at large.

Um it'll help to alleviate some of the kind of barriers that we have in place with communication between some of the agencies.

Next, I want to talk about some of the departmental wins.

Uh this is another one of your favorite things that we do, Councilmember Green.

We've been continuing with our victim support meetings, ensuring that we're supporting victims of crime.

Um, we're proud to say that we have Dr.

Ryan Bailey, who's the academic psychiatric medical director for our facility, um, who was elected president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association.

Um, Dr.

Bailey is not only the first African American president elected, but also um the first psychiatric medical director in the correctional setting elected as well.

Um that's amazing news.

I think that sets the standard for how we're trying to do psychiatric care um for residents in custody.

Um a few uh marks about partnerships that we've been working on with the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office.

We welcome in Representative Amy Freeman with their reporting center.

We actually secured a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollar allocation from the state to support our domestic violence issues.

Um I know that matters a lot, especially considering that the city is under such huge financial constraints.

We have a few initiatives that we've been working on, like our opioid clinic and our re-entry hub that we'll be proud to get up and running.

And last but not least, uh we have the Travis Hill School, which is the school in uh OJC that serves young people in custody, have 49 young people earned their diplomas over the past year.

That's a huge testament to the staff of Travis Hill, um, Byron, their um CEO and the rest of the administrators and teachers and leadership in the jail.

We're proud to continue to support the Travis Hill School and ensure that they have everything that they need, even while being severely understaffed to continue to serve our young people in custody.

Um, we haven't heard about Mytagra.

Um, I just want to shout out all the agencies who stepped in and played a part to make my keep uh the city safe and ensure that we had a successful MITAGRA.

We partner with 27 agencies statewide and had over 175 personnel over 10 days.

We had our booking bucks in the French quarter to provide additional support.

Um, and we had uh folks all across OPSO um came in and step out uh for the graph.

Uh lastly, I want to talk about the transition.

As you know, um this administration will come to the end on May 4th.

Um, we've been working with uh Sheriff Elect, Michelle Woofer and her transition team, and we are hosting weekly meetings to ensure that they have everything that they need.

We've done comprehensive facility tours of uh civil and criminal court, the training division, the day reporting center, our fleet kitchen warehouse, um, and um any other department that they've requested.

Um, we'll continue to meet with them over the next few weeks um until the transition happens to ensure that they have everything that they need and working to ensure streamless uh process as the new administration um takes hold.

With that, I'll turn it back over to Sheriff Hudson to close us out.

And I just want to mention real quickly, as it's been in the news as well, that um we are closely monitoring the medical uh uh medical, the chief medical officer situation at the jail.

Uh our partners at Wexford Health uh have bought in two physicians to replace uh Dr.

Andrea Blake, who was who led this organization for close to 10 years.

She did an amazing job, and she will be missed.

Uh Wexford continues to be our partners in this, and they brought in two new physicians to keep care going.

And we've been able to report that MedPass is still going on, uh sick call is still going on.

So we're gonna work with Wexford on that as well.

Um I also missed uh Deputy Chief Christopher Goodley, who is over our field operations bureau.

He is here today, in case there are any questions about that.

Um, but to close out, um, our commitment to safety and accountability and service to this community has not wavered.

OPSO is not just maintaining operations, we are building for the future, whether I'm serving as sheriff or not.

It has been a true privilege to serve as Sheriff of Orleans Parish.

This role has been one of the greatest responsibilities of my life, and one that I have approached every day with purpose and a deep respect for the people we serve.

I want to sincerely thank our deputies, our civilian staff, and our partners across the criminal justice system.

The work that we do is not easy, and it requires discipline, resilience, and a commitment to showing up every single day, often under difficult and demanding circumstances.

Over the course of this term, we have faced real challenges, but we have also made meaningful progress, strengthened operations, expanded programming, and continue to move this agency forward.

I'm especially proud of the men and women of OPSO who have remained committed to professionalism, accountability, and public safety.

That consistency is what keeps this agency moving forward.

I also want to thank this committee for your partnership, your oversight, and your continued engagement.

This relationship is critical to ensuring that we are serving the city in the way that it deserves.

And while my role is coming to a close, my belief in this agency and its people remains as strong as ever.

Our commitment to safety and accountability and service to the people of New Orleans has not wavered, and I'm confident it will continue moving forward.

Thank you very much for your time.

If you have any questions, we're glad to answer those.

Thank you, Consumer McGreen.

Yes, um, Sheriff, um, thank you for your willingness to serve the public and um certainly you're making the presentation because I guess this is a quarterly meeting, so we won't see you again at this meeting.

But I just want to say that you know um your willingness to put yourself forward for public service is greatly appreciated, and um certainly wish you the best in your future endeavors and you know how to reach me if there's anything that I could do, you know, to assist.

I do want to um ask Mr.

Glover or anyone there.

Unfortunately, we lost in New Orleans to death.

282 people last year, even though that number is down, it's still a tremendous number relative to opioid and fentanyl overdoses.

A tragic figure, which interestingly enough is um greatly reduced from years ago.

But over the years, we've lost so many residents to opioid and fentanyl overdoses.

So I wanted you to talk just for a second about what is going on in the opioid clinic clinic and what you might suggest and um tell the public relative to ways that they can get assistance if they are, you know, if they have an issue in that area.

Well, I just want to note uh before uh Chief Glover goes into the details that one of the reasons that we bought in a new medical and mental health provider was because we were not providing the medically assisted detox within the facility.

So that was really important to bring in a new provider to help that work, and the numbers have just grown since we've uh bought that in, which started in 2024.

So um, Chief.

Yeah, so um uh thank you for that comment.

I think that's an amazing point.

We're in the process of trying to finish up the final touches to an uh initiative called Hill OJC that essentially continues the care and continuity for folks once they leave custody.

I think when we're talking about opioids specifically, um, I think people forget or neglect the fact that that's a huge role in public safety.

A lot of the folks that come through the jail, we used to have about an 83% recidivism rate, a lot of folks who were either sick or poor, um, and some who committed serious crimes, but we've reduced that, and a lot of that has been um to ensuring that we are at least knowing how the the uh as best as possible to serve the whole person once they come into custody.

And so Hill OJC will be an initiative to work with our medical director to ensure that once someone leaves OJC um they have any prescribed medicines that they need um and that they're continuing to have connections with medical providers and case managers once they leave to ensure that they don't um they don't continue to make some of the mistakes that they made in the past.

Is that something that you envision could be a permanent part of the sheriff's office system, or should it come from somewhere else?

Yeah, yeah.

There's clearly, and I know um certain facts relative to numbers, a lot of people who um overdose were involved with the system.

I'm gonna watch my words carefully, but they were involved with the criminal justice system in some way or the other, and unfortunately, they're not we're not able to kick the addiction.

Yeah, I think the sheriff's office plays an important role in ensuring and doing everything that they can um to fight against the opioid crisis as long with as uh as well as community partners who partner with us.

Um but the sheriff's office absolutely plays a critical role because we have the folks in custody and we know what their medications are, and we can do a proper handoff to ensure people continue the treatment.

Who would it be a handoff to?

I think both medical providers, pharmacies, and case managers off site.

So there is a pre-release component and a post-release component as well.

Okay.

And over time, I mean, whatever your roles might be in that, I hope that we can continue to work to reduce the numbers, but the numbers are still staggering.

282 people, but a couple of years ago, it was 400 and some.

We just gotta do something to help um those who are most vulnerable to people who distribute those products, and also they just get the products one way or the other.

But that's a number that I'm gonna be talking to Chief Harrison about too, because at the end of the day, a public one of the biggest public safety issues in our city, um, and one of the concerns is the number of people that we lose in our city to drug overdoses, fentanyl and opioid overdoses.

So maybe I can talk to you and we can talk about how we can play a more prominent role, you know, in um reducing those numbers.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Thank you, Sheriff.

Thank you.

Any other comments, Mr.

Neuter?

No.

Okay.

First, we have a car from Tony Jones and then from Antonia Maher.

Good morning, Tony.

Uh 2111 Domain Street.

Um, I'm talking about the jail.

I think first we have to speak to Hudson's record.

And uh, you know, when I first got it started in this work, it's because of uh Susan Hudson in a large part, because uh Hudson's not innocent.

Uh we uh remember how in 2022 there was a jail uprising, and instead of coming to a visa for negotiation, myself, Tony, Felix, we were out there and we heard uh the corrections offices beat and uh use munitions against uh those incarcerated.

Um and you know, I don't I don't think I could speak without breaking that up.

But Mr.

Chevy will be also holding what folk accountable because she's no friend to public oversight.

Um I bring up the the uprising because those issues have not been resolved still.

People work uh wait months or longer uh in pretrial just to get to court to even be proven whether or not they go to their innocent.

Yet those who have connections with the NOPD often don't spend any time detained despite multiple investigations.

Victor Gantt didn't have to spend any time detained, despite the fact that he killed jailed Arthur.

That's not an accusation.

He killed there was an autopsy.

He killed this man, and then this officer is not doing uh detention time.

I see that the sheriff of this committee is looking on his phone.

I'm acknowledging that others aren't even here as if the quarterly reports is something that committee members don't have to uh pay attention to.

Um, but it's not just Victor Gantt, who's a uh avoids the horrible conditions in the jail, it's also his son, a killer, and that's not an accusation, convicted in court.

Andrew Gent is a killer, didn't have to uh dwell in those conditions.

Why?

Because his father got him out on the low bail, despite the fact that he killed uh and uh JC Lee Scott.

He killed Chase, and that was found in court.

And we're gonna keep on speaking about this until we actually get y'all to acknowledge the need for an investigation to think.

Next up, Ms.

Marr, please.

Just to let everyone know, moving forward, we've been giving everyone grace, but if your comments are not germane, we're gonna be respectful to everyone in the audience and everyone's time, and we will shut off the mic.

So everyone has an opportunity to speak, but we're gonna demand respect and keep your time, your comments germane to the topic.

If not, your mic will be shut off.

Hello, uh, my name is Antonia Maher.

I'm at 2522 La Harp Street, um, in the seventh ward.

Um, I'm here today.

I know that the jail has gone a lot of scrutiny in the past several months, um, but I do also uh, you know, I appreciate um your progressive stance uh in terms of not cooperating with ICE at the jail.

That has meant a lot to the organizing community.

Um but we also know that among the issues that the jail is facing, overcrowding is a really big issue.

Um we have seen, as Tony Jones said, uh a lot of people are in the jail for a long time without being able to go to trial.

Um a lot of people's families have issues communicating with their loved ones at the jail and you know, getting them the resources that they need to make sure that they're fed, they're taking care of their medications.

Um and I again want to, you know, uh I think something that Tony said was important and it is germane, and that is how does the jail serve the public?

Who has to spend time at the jail?

Who uh has resources to communicate with their loved ones, and who who suffers the brunt of you know not having access to city resources, not having access to accountability, not having access to justice in their cases.

And you know, we are here today um on behalf of the the demanding justice for J Slee Scott.

Um we want the jail to be accountable to the public and all of the public, and part of these meetings is also you know, uh holding accountable um people in the police department, people on the jail staff who don't serve the city but seek to serve themselves.

Yes, um Cheryl.

Councilman Green, Sheriff, before you um leave, and because the issue of overcrowding was brought up, and I was gonna ask you um separate, but I asked this question from time to time about the state's responsibility relative to those who are um incarcerated in terms of transferring them out of your facility to the state facility, which certainly would have an impact on overcrowding.

How many um of those persons who were incarcerated at the local level should be under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and transfer?

Chief, about a hundred and fifty.

Um parole violence uh some with open charges, some just being held waiting on a revocation here.

And the remainder of that is uh sentenced, so I can get you a breakdown if you need that.

But it's 150.

Yes, approximately.

We assume that the average cost for incarceration of a person in the OJ in the OJC is thousands of dollars a month, right?

Because it's about 50,000 a year.

So $4,000 a month.

So 4,000 times 150.

It's a cost that the city assumes that the state should have assumed because they should do their job a bit better.

I want you to help correct me with the wording that I use because I am going to be a stickler because the city has had to fill its employees.

So help me to use the correct wording to encourage the state to handle this responsibilities relative to those 150 individuals.

Yes, sir.

And we meet no uh regularly with the state, and they are actually doing more pickups for us than I think around the state because uh our federal court that's over the consent judgment is also watching very closely.

So we continue to work with them, look at the numbers, and continue to um ask them to come pick up people, and they do.

But it's it's also a rolling target because when you hit what uh one person leaves, another person gets convicted that day, right?

So it's uh it's it's a continuous kind of loop.

But we will definitely continue to share the information.

The state could be doing better.

Pick up more.

That would be great, but um around the state, most of their prisoners are in jails.

If uh as far as the numbers are, there just aren't enough resources in the state.

So, yeah, most uh of the state's prisoners are in local jails.

It's a big burden on the city of New Orleans budget.

I just want to continue to make that clear as we seek criticisms on a state level of everything that happens in the city of New Orleans, and um you know that this is not directed at you, and I've been consistent with this message.

If the city of New Orleans is going to fill its employees, if the city of New Orleans is going to have hiring freezes if the city of New Orleans is not gonna be able to provide resources, I am gonna be the one one person amongst the many who will say this is that I can't have the state criticizing the city as if the city is always wrong, and we're not doing the right thing.

So I just want that.

I just wanted to bring out that statistic.

Yes.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Next, we're gonna go to section F with uh NOPD.

Yes, ma'am.

Ms.

Scott, while while while we transition, while Miss Uh we're transitioning, Miss Scott's gonna have a comment.

Miss Scott, I respectfully ask that you keep your comments germane to the topic of not your comment, your mic will be turned off.

I'm aware.

Um, good morning.

My name is Shauntay Scott.

I am the mother of Jason Scott.

I want to address the issues of custody procedure and accountability with the sheriff's department.

One of the questions I continue to ask is why was law enforcement officer involved in the custody process of his own son who murdered my son.

Scott, Miss Scott, respectfully that's not Germaine to what we're talking about.

Now the sheriff is.

We're gonna go to the clerk of court's office.

You can bring up the clerk of court.

We're gonna skip, we're gonna go to the clerk of the court's office.

The clerk, the criminal clerk.

We have a witness, you got a women.

So Miss Ms.

Scott, we're about to we're we're about to start a new presentation, and you want we want to give you the respect.

Right, which now now it's just you you you can speak, but now it's just not the time.

So we're gonna have the criminal clerk of court speed, please.

I got your back attention.

Oh, we have to buy some case.

We need only all the things again.

So NOPD hasn't spoken yet, and Miss Scott, I truly sympathize.

So, Miss, yes, ma'am.

It's all good.

I understand, I listen, I I know this is a sensitive but but but we're about to we're about to move.

Yes.

Yes, ma'am.

Kirk of Court.

The floor is yours.

Good morning.

And that's what we need.

Unfortunately, uh the clerk Darren Lombard couldn't make it here this morning.

He had an obligation in bat mood.

But he just wanted me to come before you to kind of address a couple of issues that we're dealing with over at the clerk's office.

I know there's a hiring freeze, but we have some critical positions that um that are not new positions, positions that are just vacant.

And so we wouldn't really want to kind of take a look at the process to get those positions hired.

Um there was an issue whereby a lot of our files were um under the last administration taken to a landfill.

Well, the clerk's office staff they went and gathered those documents, but we need some funding for remediation.

Um we have all of these files um boxed up, and but did they need to be remediated by a professional company um that that's can sanitize them and um get those documents first, we can kind of put them back in uh file.

And the last thing that we wanted to address was um expungement funds.

When when we presented before the uh city council in our budget, um we were told that there were some funds that we could be used for expungements.

We did we did receive some funds from the state of Louisiana, and we gave out over fifty thousand dollars of expungements.

Um, but we also have some additional funds that we were promised by the city.

Um I think Joe said it was some type of special um some type of special fund that was set aside for things just like that.

And we're just not really sure how to access those funds, but we do have a lot of um expungers that are kind of in a pipeline that we want to um get those taken taken care of, and that's about all they have today.

Council McGreen, any comments?

None?

All right, thank you.

The floor is yours, sir.

Hey, how are we doing?

Good morning, uh Mr.

Chair, good morning, Councilmember Green.

Uh we appreciate the opportunity to be here today for this quarterly update.

Uh, we do believe that this is an important moment, not just because it marks the first presentation uh to this chair and to this uh reconstituted committee, but because it comes at a time when our city is experiencing something that many once thought was out of reach, sustained historic reductions in violent crime.

Uh and I want to be clear that those gains were not done and achieved in isolation, nor were they achieved uh by simple serendipity.

Uh just a few weeks ago in the wake of the just a few years ago in the wake of the pandemic, our city faced a surge in violence across nearly every single crime category.

Together with the help of this council with our law enforcement partners uh and with the community, we made a deliberate decision to change course.

Uh we directed strategic focus to the individuals, locations, and behaviors that were truly harming our communities.

We invested in data, we invested in trust.

Uh we committed to a full spectrum approach to public safety from crime prevention to complex prosecutions, and the numbers bear out that it worked.

Today we're seeing the result of strategies of those strategies in real time.

But I want to be equally clear about something else.

This is not a time to wave a victory flag, certainly not a time to take our foot off the gas.

Because at the very moment we are seeing these gains, the Orleans Paris Attorney's Office is operating under more than a 30% reduction in funding for 2026.

These cuts come on top of years of already lean operations.

For my agency, and for every other agency in the city of New Orleans.

But we want to make sure that we can always meet the demands of the moment.

Regardless of the conversations happening at the state legislature about restructuring and about the volume that exists around the state and in this parish, the volume and complexity of cases in Orleans Parish is the highest in the state.

This requires experienced prosecutors, strong partnerships, and sustained resources.

So today we're going to walk you through very quickly the progress that has been made, the strategies that got us there, and what it will take to sustain, but more importantly, build on this momentum.

It's not enough to achieve goals and talk about successes, but we need to set new goals, more aspirational goals because we can do better and we must do better for every member of this community.

One homicide is too much, one grieving mother is too much, and I and I hear that.

Because the cost of losing ground in public safety is far greater than the cost of trying to build it back up.

We thank this body for the partnership that we've had, and we look forward to continuing this work together.

Turning to the first slide, uh delivering a safer community through data, accountability, and partnership.

At its core, our work is about delivering safer communities through smart, strategic, accountable, and coordinated execution.

This is not theoretical work, it's operational.

It's how we make daily decisions about where we focus these resources, how to prioritize, how to deploy our assets in the most effective way possible.

And importantly, it is the work that depends on strategic coordination, not just within the DA's office, not just within between prosecutors, but across every single level of government.

Not just our partners at the NOPD and the LSP, but our partners who put up street lights, our partners who who deal with lead abatement in our water lines, because everything is connected.

Turning to slide two, the historic public safety gains that we realize that have been lauded across the country.

The results of this coordinated work are very clear.

Between 2022 and 2025, we had seen significant reductions.

Armed robberies are down 70%.

Non-fatal shootings are down 59%.

Murders are down 55%, and non-fatal shootings down 61%.

These are not just statistics, these are fewer families devastated, fewer neighborhoods traumatized, and fewer lives lost.

These kinds of reductions only happen when a system is aligned and is consistently and strategically executing day in and day out.

Turning to slide three, no dice.

Data driving results.

A key driver of these outcomes has been the strategic work of this unit.

It's a unit that we built a few years ago.

This is a precision-based approach that combines uh crime data, calls for service, and direct community input.

Walking these broken sidewalks with neighbors, walking these broken sidewalks with grieving families, with clergy, with business owners so that we understand the live reality.

We use that information to identify specific locations, driving violence, and we deploy coordinated responses to target those areas.

And in those areas, we've seen reductions in gun violence as high as 80%.

What makes this work effective is not just the data, it is the coordination behind it.

All of the people playing a role, uh, council members, legislators, uh, FBI, ATF, NOPD, Department of Transportation, Infrastructure, Environmental Factors, Local Agencies.

This is a whole of government approach, focus on specific problems in specific places.

And to talk about the nuances of this work, I want to let you hear from Keith Lampkin, uh, the chief architect of this work to walk you through some of the nuances of no dice and a number of our quality of life efforts to try to improve the lived experience of the people of this city.

Chief Key.

Thank you, DA.

And as I look at the day, it's looking at Council Member Green and Chairman uh King.

You guys are no strangers to our no-dice work.

Um, it's really been a case study and what it looks like to break down silos across agencies.

And we've seen some truly remarkable results in in your district, Councilmember Green, in the chairman's district, and with all of your colleagues' districts as well.

Um, I think about Harden Park, and I think about some of the work we're able to do there by making some infrastructure improvements, by increasing lighting, by returning uh youth recreation to Harden Park, what that is meant for that community.

Uh the DA and I still get what seems like weekly updates from the 18th board in Nord about the programming that's going on there, and there's a vibrancy in that neighborhood and on that park that when we did our initial walkthroughs was missing and that that neighborhood really deserved.

Um, we are now focused in New Orleans East.

Uh, we've been there since just before the turn of the new year with our partners from communities of hope, which as everybody knows is an interfaith, interdenominational uh coalition of faith leaders who don't all pray the same, but who have all come together for a common good.

They've all worked with their congregations to better the communities they serve and those streets and those residences that that surround uh their campuses, and we are uh uh building toward a huge convening that's gonna happen on April 13th, uh, where we're gonna come together on a priority list and on the changes that have already been made.

Um, I'd like to say that even though there are some new uh uh council members uh on the council now, they've already uh quickly engaged with no dice.

Um, and uh we've got some major things brewing uh that uh are gonna be some good announcements that are gonna come up soon.

In fact, before we got here earlier today, I was going to do with wildlife and fisheries and with NOPD about some issues that are happening uh in a few of our pockets where you've got some rural land.

So we're we're just excited uh about the way this thing has all come together since the DA instituted this effort uh a couple years ago.

Uh it has paid dividends time and time again, and uh we're gonna continue to double down on the things that work.

And we're looking forward to more positive results of the coming year.

Thank you, Chief Lambkin.

Uh, turning to slide five.

Uh, the homicide unit's impact on this community.

I was in this chair uh before this group uh some time ago, and we had the uh we had the title Murder Capital of the Country.

Uh and I said to you all that if you all funded a homicide unit the next time I appeared before you we would not be the murder capital, and we delivered on that promise.

But it couldn't have happened if you all had not leaned in and weighed in so that we could put that strategic effort in place, and it's paid off.

Our homicide unit continues to operate at an exceptionally high level over the past two and a half years.

We've maintained a high conviction rate in homicides.

Uh we've improved outcomes year after year by building stronger cases using technology, using social media, using AI, working more closely with NOPD investigators, uh attending more robustly their grip meetings with them more robustly attending our charge conferences.

That strategic coordination has never been better.

And it's not just between me, not just between me and the chief and my leaders, NOPD leaders, but rank and file, prosecutors and detectives with each other's cell phone numbers, working hand in hand from beginning to end so they can take a case from probable cause to proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

That efficiency, that strategic coordination matters.

It saves time, preserves resources, and delivers justice faster.

This is hard work.

This is serious work.

This year we have resolved about 40 homicide cases and indicted another uh 25 more.

We have also successfully handled a number of complex retrials.

As you know, uh some of the Supreme Court rulings required cases to be retried.

People got new uh jury trials because of the Ramos decision.

Uh I've tried uh those cases myself.

Chief Derbys, who you'll be hearing from, has tried those cases himself.

It is a lot harder to retry a case because everything's been laid out on the table.

And uh it's just it's notoriously a much more difficult case to prove.

Securing those convictions despite significant evidentiary challenges is tough, uh, but we've delivered.

I believe strongly in leading from the front.

I will continue to try cases myself.

You will continue to see me in the courtroom next to my lawyers.

You consider can continue to see Chief Derby in the courtroom with young lawyers because he doesn't believe in just telling people what to do.

He believes in showing them how to do it.

Uh we will not ask our attorneys to take on challenges that we were not willing to take on alongside them.

So, with that, I'd like to introduce to you the architect of our homicide unit who continues to bring the best out of the women and men who do this work.

Uh, Chief Matt Dervis.

Uh, thank you.

Members of the city council.

I just want to take a moment to talk about I believe last time we were here, we really focused on the vertical change, meaning switching to a unit where the cases are assigned to a prosecutor once the indictment comes in to really shifting to a new model where every attorney in the homicide unit is on an up list.

Each attorney is assigned a homicide case upon an arrest being made by the NOPD detective.

And so that that prosecutor is going to have that case from the very beginning after the arrest, when they just have probable cause to make an arrest and working with those detectives and those sergeants and other members of the NOPD to make sure by the time we get to indictment, that prosecutor is extremely familiar with the case, has worked with the detective, has developed a relationship with witnesses, detectives, and really gets to a point when we are indicting a case.

If we if the world operated like that, really try that case.

Our mantra has always been trial ready at indictment.

It's not always the case with respect to DNA testing and some other evidence that is outstanding.

But I think it's paid huge dividends in terms of having a dedicated unit of prosecutors who can really work hand in hand with detectives from the beginning of a case and see it through to its end.

Thank you, Matt.

Turn to slide six.

Highlights uh our sexual assault kit initiative work is focused on addressing cases that historically went untested.

Uh these rape kits were untested and unresolved, and when they are, uh, we are able to snap in to work.

These are often older cases, cold cases, uh, that required significant investment in reconstruction.

Uh, but the mission is quite simple.

Ensure that survivors are never forgotten and that accountability is pursued wherever possible.

Our special victims unit uh led by uh Michelle Jones also handles some of the most sensitive and complex cases in the system.

Uh that's a unit that we built soon after our homicide unit.

Uh, severe child abuse, human trafficking, and the sexual abuse of children.

Um, truly some of the hardest work that happens in our office.

This is where a victim-centered approach is absolutely critical.

The way victims are treated from their first interaction through the life of a case directly impacts the outcome of that case.

Uh we work with children's hospital.

Uh, this team obtained a human trafficking conviction just this past Thursday in Section G of criminal district court before the Honorable Nandi Campbell on the heels of convicting a child predator in trial earlier this month.

Uh resource allocations have actually allowed us to bolster their capacity in 2026, providing critical relief valve in handling of those cases, uh, which are truly some of our most disturbing cases.

These positions are not optional.

These are essential to achieving justice.

Turn to slide eight, a full spectrum approach of the public safety model.

Our strategy operates across the full spectrum.

Prevention, community engagement, and early intervention.

Intervening, targeted data informed deployment, enforcement, strategic prosecution of high impact individuals, sustainability, long-term coordination across systems.

One of the most important elements across all of this is trust.

When you had the group presenting on the pillars, trust came up time and time again because we've had generations of mistrust in the criminal legal system.

But over the past few years, we have worked very very hard, whether it was through our CRD or our victim witness unit or our community-based no-dice approach to invest in trust.

When people trust the system, witnesses come forward and they cooperate.

When people trust the system, they stick around after 911 is called to talk to the police.

When people trust the system, victims participate.

When people trust the systems, jurors engage and show up for jury duty.

That trust strengthens every part of the system and improves outcomes across the board and improves the system and improves this community.

Efficiency and cost reduction.

We've made significant improvements in efficiency and efficiencies across office.

Charging decisions are faster, and the cases are stronger.

We have also rebuilt a culture of trial readiness.

More cases are being tried in Orleans Paris than ever before.

Higher state cases are being handled successfully.

Defense counsels and defendants understand that our lawyers are prepared to go to trial when the case is set.

And defense counsel has all the discovery and evidence so that they're prepared as well to move forward.

Nothing is hidden.

No Brady violations.

All of this has been done while maximizing very, very limited resources.

Slide 10.

Sustaining progress in the midst of this budget reality.

Even as we were just beginning to reach our levels necessary to meet the current demand.

Shifting resources to the highest need areas, reducing operational costs where feasible, but even with those efforts, we remain heavily reliant on the dedicated funding that we receive from you all.

And there are limits to what efficiencies and reallocation can truly achieve.

At the same time, the workload remains substantial.

Approximately 4,000 criminal court days annually, increased demands from major events, tourism and multi-agency investigations.

When you hear the state talking about our population not being what it was pre-Catrina, you don't hear them talk about the fact that when you hear about a shooting on Canal Street, when you hear about a shooting in the French quarter, oftentimes that the perpetrator is from a different parish.

To talk about what we're doing during these austerity measures to meet the moment and meet the moment with less in everybody's wallet than we had this time last year.

Chief Hence.

Yes, so we have by mid-April we will have eliminated at least 20 full-time positions.

Um we've done that gradually over the first quarter, and I have a couple more of those to do today, actually.

Um we are reallocating our resources to the highest need areas.

We continue to enforce stringent restrictions on overtime.

Basically, it's it's virtually non-existent in our office.

This might mean that the trial assistant operating your PowerPoint has to leave as you're starting your closing argument because they've reached their 40 hours, they have to go home.

It's inconvenient, but we understand our responsibility.

In terms of operating costs, our attorneys right now they are going into court without the most recent code books because we were only able to order a handful of them this year.

So not every attorney has one.

Uh we have further strength strengthened restrictions on travel for victim and wit victims and witnesses in our cases.

And we have canceled subscriptions, we're attempting to renegotiate contracts, we're eliminating them altogether, and um we're really down to essential spending only.

And that means sometimes I deny the DA's spending requests, but we will make sure our budget aligns and um we're doing the best that we can.

So, in order to wrap it up, I will just say the one thing that I think we can all agree on.

The success we've gained cannot be negotiable.

Uh we must sustain this progress, and the only way we can is with partnership.

The pathway forward is about sustaining what's working, which means maintaining the strategies that have reduced violence, uh, maintaining the continual coordination across agencies at every level, and preserving the personal personnel and expertise required to handle this very, very difficult work.

Public safety is a shared responsibility, and the progress we made belongs to all of us, and I can't thank you all enough for the partnership that we've had.

Thank you, DA Williams, Councilman Green.

Thank you, Mr.

DA for being here this morning and for your work in general.

I have a um a general question relative to funding.

It's a shame that we have to lay workers off and that we are on the policies involving furloughs and the like.

When the state of Louisiana has such a tremendous budget.

So I'm gonna ask you a question that um if you need to get back to me to get specific.

How are other small cities funding their efforts relative to district attorneys and the like?

It's a struggle.

Uh and it's a hodgepodge when you look you look across the state and you look across the country.

I meet with uh elected prosecutors uh throughout the state and throughout the country asking uh and looking for um uh uh new answers.

Uh the the honest answer is no prosecutor's office has done it well without some municipal city funding uh and making it as strategic as possible.

Uh there are efficiencies uh that can be had in terms of technology in terms of the uh the the system integration, the bus uh that we've all been working on that will be sharing information, uh how quickly we can receive electronic information, uh how we can store and transmit body-worn camera footage, dash camera footage, uh real-time camera footage, those areas.

There's some economies of scale that can happen.

Most of that happens uh at the city uh agency level.

You all are doing that work.

Uh so I would say that the city of New Orleans is ahead of the curve in finding those efficiencies.

Uh but you know, we just got hit with a whammy in terms of not having the resources to maintain uh those aspirational goals that you all had laid out.

It's fair to say that municipalities throughout the state could use more state assistance because of the pressures that are on municipalities that many times don't exist in other areas.

Could you comment on that?

Um, and I know the wording, you know, you rely so much on the state, but can the state do more?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

What can the state do to help?

You know, the strategic coordinated deployment of assets.

Um, whether it's sending uh men and women into the jurisdiction to help uh or sending resources to do that work uh and measuring those outcomes.

And and one of the things that we've seen is deployment of assets in the city of New Orleans that are now being redeployed uh uh around the state.

But those resource warrants, we receive warrants uh just like every other uh prosecutor's office.

Uh and those warrants, that is the state funding that pays prosecutors to do that work.

That warrant amount uh has not changed in years.

Uh uh it it's it's it's it's dangerously low because lawyers can make so much more in the private sector.

So uh if public safety is important, then we have to invest in public safety.

We have to add more money to it.

So basically, we can assist by lobbying the state for more resources in specific areas that you might help us to identify.

Yes, sure.

Yes, sir.

Okay, please let us know the special.

We'll we'll send you a very specific list uh and a very specific ask uh and and really be able to explain what we can do with with those amounts.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

I appreciate also the um the work that you do outside of your agency with members of the New Orleans Police Department and also on a state and local of state and federal level.

Could you comment about your relationship and your um staff's work with the New Orleans Police Department, for example, the fact that you have um district attorneys who work with specific district um stations, for example.

Could you talk about that for certainly early on in my um tenure as DA, we realized that there was a disconnect uh between uh the officers making cases and my lawyers' screening cases.

Uh that disconnect has really been around since DA's offices have been around.

Uh so what we did was we created a district screener model.

Uh this was the brainchild of Andre Godan, uh, the former chief of screening, uh, and he created a situation which allowed for a prosecutor to be embedded with, to rely on, lean on, and be there for uh the officers in each police district across um across the city, uh, which allowed them to work on those cases together to figure out if something was missing, to go back and get it, whether it was uh a real-time crime camera or ring doorbell footage to make sure we had everything we needed so that we could one screen that case faster, and then once it got to court, uh be able to present a winning case.

That screen that model uh has I believe uh helped police do their work better, and it's helped my prosecutors do their work better.

And now there's just a symbiotic relationship uh between the two that that is really I think played a pivotal role in reducing crime in this community because it's a strategic effort from what's happening on the streets to what's happening in the courtroom.

And that same thing is happening with the homicide unit and the violent uh uh crimes units uh in the grip meetings, the grip meetings are meetings that the NOPD holds and coordinates uh at the hospital.

Uh it's a large room where they're working through investigations and cases, and everybody's figuring out what they can do specifically to deliver on that investigation so that it can be fruitful uh and hopefully bring everybody who's accountable to justice.

Uh and it's a beautiful thing because we're the end users of that work product, and we deeply appreciate those convenings by the NOPD.

And then we in turn have our charge conferences.

Uh Chief Derbys uh is in our grand jury room, the same room that you joined us for our no-dice meetings, uh, meeting with the homicide detectives, talking about what we have uh and what's missing, and what we can do to get a case ready to present uh to jurors.

And then you've got that same thing happen on the no-dice piece.

We're talking about place-based crime, might be the tar shop that you visited, uh, it might be the uh new image market, or where both you and council uh member uh uh Freddie King were uh shutting down places that are helping whether whether it's illegal gun uh uh sales or drug sales or places that are breeding grounds like the London Lodge for other criminal activity, but having the police uh in the room with you all, with us, with Umbutu Village, uh with the clergy, uh, with Vera, uh finding ways so that we can deal with place-based crime uh and communities of hope.

I mean, really that that group of clergy members have become a group of warriors in this community in terms of finding places where the next crime might occur, which allows us to go in with the police department and other agencies and city agents to light it up and reduce calls for service.

And I know reduced costs of service doesn't sound like a big deal, but it is a big deal because it means it means that's a victim that never was.

That's a case that never was.

Uh, that's a community that remains whole and intact.

Thank you.

Could you um comment on the importance of and thank you very much for the your work that you do with especially our police department, the district attorney's office, that sense of trust has resulted in, I guess, many people saying that they know that the DA and the police are working together.

There are always going to be some sort of shortcomings, but that's important to the public.

It used to be urban legend that the police would write a report and the DA is going to reject it right away.

We had to fix that.

Uh, I had to fix that.

People would say, I'm gonna be out tomorrow because the police are gonna, I mean, write a report and the DA is gonna reject it.

You can say affirmatively now to the public that the workings between the DA and the police department dispel that myth.

Uh, we we we we we saw a problem that was a historical problem dating back many administrations, uh, where there was sort of um uh an angst between the two agencies, and we have been able to repair that from top leadership uh to the newest highs of the NOPD and the newest highs of the DA's office.

Thank you very much.

Could you comment also on your assistance that you provide through um Michelle Jones to victims of crimes?

Of course, you know how I um certainly have um embraced many victims of crime, helped form an organization, voices of the victims of crime, because of course that's why our criminal justice system exists, to make sure that people are not victimized, or if they are victimized, that they get the relief that they need um in the system.

Can you comment on the work that's being done by Michelle Jones and also your victim um assistance unit and how important that is?

It's it's vitally important.

Uh they the victim witness advocates uh meet with victims and witnesses uh whenever, wherever.

Um they have probably the hardest job of anyone in the office.

Um I will tell you that it is grieving mothers and fathers, uh, and people who lose their loved ones to violence or people who are brutalized by a predator.

Uh they they go through a great deal of trauma.

And I can tell you that my victim witness advocates, they have to digest that trauma daily.

Uh, and they do digest it and they digest it in a way to try to help families navigate probably the worst moments of their lives, and they stay in touch with them uh before the case is tried, long before the case is tried, uh, and they stick with them uh many times after the case is resolved in court.

Um it is uh that trauma goes and will last a lifetime.

Uh but the victim witness advocates, the social workers in my office, uh they do an amazing job.

Uh I wish that we could pay them more.

I wish we had more of them.

Uh I aspirationally, if we can get to a place, and I know budgetarily we may not be there now.

Uh the goal standard would be to figure out a way for our victim witness advocates to get in touch with a victim or a survivor before we even get the referral from the police department.

Because as you see right now, uh an arrest or an incident might happen in January, but we actually don't get the referral for quite some time.

And so we don't even have a name to reach out to until we get that case referral.

So we could figure out a way to fill that gap so that this person does not feel that vacuum uh so close and proximity to uh to a horrible incident, uh, that would be the gold standard, and that and we would be ahead of the curve uh compared to any other municipality.

Thank you.

And I my last question is more of a comment.

I'm asking for assistance.

Um thank you, no dice for the work that um was done relative to the tire shop, relative to enhancing the community around Harden Park, which involved a lot of work at a net um, for example, at Hope Street and the net um that entire community is different.

Thank you for identifying properties such as on North Russia Blade, which eventually resulted in an expedited and Daniel was behind some of that work isn't the avenue.

So he's joined the administration.

Yes.

So but I just want to tell you that I still look forward to working with no dice, and I know that you've moved to identifying properties in New Orleans East.

But I'm gonna make a request for you, and I'm looking toward our public safety officials at the corner of Alger Meyer and Johnny Jackson Boulevard.

An intersection that is named for two people who were committed to amazing stalwarts in our community.

I can't even support a fresh fruit, a fresh fruit business because of all of the illegal activity that's going around there.

And so I'm saying to the person if he's watching, I'm also saying to members of the New Orleans Police Department, no dice, code enforcement, and the like.

That is an area that we need to draw attention to.

And I'm asking no dice, and I'm asking you publicly to do so.

Whatever it takes, cameras, surveillance, and the like within walking distance, a short walking distance from there, we'll soon be welcoming a new school, the Gale and Tom Benson Foundation School at the corner of Carver Rams Way and Desire Parkway.

We'll also be dedicating a new stadium soon.

We'll be doing a groundbreaking on a new ninth ward stadium designed to enhance that community.

We have a very active community, and it's not just second line, just great social aid and pleasure work.

We're gonna be doing more work at uh Sampton Playground.

But that community which has been ignored for so long in the past, not recently, deserves the attention that I'm asking you to give to that intersection, and I'm asking our law enforcement community and also our whatever communities are necessary, code enforcement and the like, to give some attention to that community so that when those children begin coming to that school on August the 5th, their parents don't have to drive by that monstrosity of a criminal element combined area at Algermeyer and Johnny Jackson.

And I'll leave it at that.

We will direct our attention to that, and um I I'm very familiar of uh of the of that area.

My um my parents are both Carver Rams, uh, so I know it well.

I was speaking with a former councilmember Arnie Felco this weekend uh about that new and exciting development coming there.

Yes.

Uh, and so lighting it up uh and protecting it uh and getting out the criminal element, uh, it needs to be a focus.

Uh I can tell as you know, you went to Harden Park with us after we worked with our federal partners uh in the NOPD to clean it up.

Uh our first visit out there, we spent most of our time uh picking up hypodermic needles from illegal drug use uh after uh arrests were made.

Uh I was there Wednesday, and it was full of children.

Yes, full of uh six-year-olds, eight-year-olds, nine-year-olds, with teenagers coaching them, with adults overseeing them, with our seniors out on their porches watching them and enjoying it.

So uh it only took uh a couple of months to turn a drug-infested area into a place uh that is historical and meaningful to this community to a vibrant place for children to live and be and and play flag football.

Uh it was it was a beautiful turnaround to see, and I hope that we can do the same thing in that area you talk about.

I appreciate that.

I didn't know that both of your parents were Carver Rams graduates.

Well, in behalf of the um Carver Rams students who have to walk past there to go to the estates to their homes and to other places like that.

Um, I feel that I know that you're gonna give some attention to that area before that Gale and Tom Benson Foundation school opens so that those elementary school students and the Carver School students can be able to walk and engage in that community without having to worry about an intersection that has just so much um so many problems and to for people who have so much disregard for that community.

I say often, and I represent a great district.

It includes the desire community, it includes the West End with all of its restaurants.

If you wouldn't do that in the West End, don't do it in Desire, don't do it in the Ninth Ward.

Those people who are bad actors need to have a message sent to them, and I know that you will be able to help send that along with our law enforcement community.

I'm asking you on behalf of the students to work with no dice and let's do something about it.

Yes, sir.

We'll do out an opportunity to meet uh the little the little uh the little the littlest ones over at Clarence Barney early head start program uh just last week, right in the desire.

Right.

Uh and and they deserve uh a better environment, and we're gonna make sure we do that.

Thank you for your work.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Uh any other comments, any online comments?

Okay.

So we have comments for DA's for DA's office from the public, followed by our last two presenters NOPD and independent police minders and thank you all for your patience.

This is this we're gonna do this.

Um respect everyone's right to speak and if you heard, or if your comments are not on topic.

Okay, um, we are going to call a few mics, and if there is any uproars from the audience, we're gonna cut seed.

Councilman Green and Councilmember Green and myself are going to exit the room, and who's ever been disrupted will be escorted out of the chambers and you will not be able to hear the last two presentations.

Um right to be heard, okay.

So we're gonna start the comment section off with Tony Jones.

Hi, I'm Tony.

Uh I live in 211 Domain Street.

That's uh in your district.

Uh Mr.

King.

Um, so I'm glad to hear in support that we're seeing this fifth-year low and homicides.

That's amazing.

We are all here today because we value life.

Um I'm hearing a report that has a song Stance and Convictions.

Um, and I'm glad that we are have this opportunity to have a committee where the public can hear these reports and comment.

I understand that uh the presenters may not always answer questions, but I'm I'm leaving this question up to the DA if he wants to answer it.

Um so there was a case in 2020.

Uh it was put forward, uh, the prosecution was started by Canada Zero.

What we want to know is uh, you know, when or were you aware of the case against Andrew Gantt, the son of NOPD officer Victor Gantt when he was being prosecuted uh in the court?

And if if you want to answer that, we would we would love to hear answer.

Uh I I am aware.

Um, and uh I did meet with um Shonta Scott and others uh pertaining to this case.

Uh and we did uh direct the case file to the federal authorities as well uh for them to review uh uh for any federal adoption.

Uh they did review it, but they did decline to take it further.

Um there was a conviction.

Uh I believe in Section G of criminal district court, and the sentence was given there is no double jeopardy between uh uh state court and federal court, uh although the federal government uh did not move forward with that case.

Followed by Antonio Marr.

How are you doing?

This is Miss Shante Scott, the mother of Jace Scott.

The letter that was sent out to the FBI was a very lenient uh letter that was sent out to the FBI.

I read the letter and looked over the letter, and it didn't give a high demand of uh actually what had then took place in Jace's case.

But um, I am here today to speak on the importance of accountability within the prosecution process.

In my son's case, the DA was horrible.

From Leon Canazero to Michael Morrell's to Sarah Dawkins to Zach Gray and the victim witness, Alison Margado, she was horrible to me.

They didn't help me not one bit, okay?

And she's supposed to help the victim, the victim.

I didn't get any help.

All I was being doing was being pushed to the side because I had evidence, okay.

Um my son was kicked murdered on November the 24th, 2019, and for six years, we have been seeking justice and transparency from NOPD and from the DA's office.

Um I am asking for a review of how my son's case was handled, including charging decisions and overall accountability.

No one is asked me if I agree with the plea who was given to all.

Dylan, last name.

No, you might your mic has been cut, Miss Ms.

Scott.

Last name Dylan.

1631 Marinette Street.

Last name Dylan, 1631 Meredith Street.

Nobody from the DA office explained to me.

Ms.

Dylan.

Sorry, Miss Scott, Miss Dillon, Miss Dylan now has the floor.

Every time I give up here, you've got a problem with me.

I didn't, I didn't, the mic was cut because it wasn't germaine.

So we're gonna leave the chambers now, Councilman Green.

Minimize this case.

My name is Genevieve Dylan.

I live at sixteen thirty-one Marine Street, New Orleans in St.

Rock.

My friend Richie Smith was murdered on January seventh, twenty twenty-three by my neighbor, Jason.

I wasn't gonna get up here to talk today, but when I saw you walk in the room, I had to.

I have written to you.

You may remember the thumb drive I dropped off, the t-shirt that said I live here.

Those were Richie's last words.

He was telling his murderer, I live here, I live here, and the guy killed him point blank, shot him right in his chest.

He dropped dead in front of my house.

It's hard to follow what's going on here because I have been by Richie's mother's side three years.

Oh boy, I've been in the grand jury room a couple of times.

I've met with Kendrick Thomas, Sharon DuPri, Sergeant Hyatt, Detective Rob Barrery, Kevin Burns, and of course Abigail McDonald.

We put together an eighty-page comprehensive report with live links to video and audio.

Nine one-one calls that showcased this murderer's horrible violent history of arrests.

I'm so I'm so happy to be able to talk to you, but I'm also so frustrated with how this whole thing has gone down.

And I want to reach out to you again.

He was a really good person.

He was a non-violent person.

I think what I want to talk about is the DA's office, is the DA's office's role in um charging officers who also violate the law.

Uh officers are civil servants, they serve us, we pay their paychecks as we do pay the paychecks of all city officials.

Um, and we know that uh, you know, there's been a lot of scandals and and and stuff going on in the NOPD about payroll fraud.

Um, you know, just recently, uh a lot of cases about Malfeas in office.

There was the arrest of Terence Johnson in March twenty and March 2026, uh, Chad Cochrane, Sergeant Henry Burke related to different counts of peril fraud, malfeasance in office.

And I just want to use my time to say that we still need the help of the DA's office as much as we appreciate um, you know, uh NOPD and DA working together to get justice for families.

Part of what we're doing here is also victim advocacy.

And it's not, and it does take a toll on the victim and on those who are standing alongside her.

Um we want an investigation of NOPD officer Victor Canton Jr.

We know his history in the office.

He uh in 2020 uh in 2006.

He had a role in the murder of uh next go ahead, Mr.

Burt.

Is it Modric?

Over uh over time.

Bert Lodric has the floor.

All right, Mr.

Lord is not gonna speak.

We're gonna go to our next presenters, NOPD.

Thank you, D.A.

Williams, for your NOPD, the floor is yours.

NOPD.

Okay, Chief.

All right.

NOPD, the floor is yours.

Do you know you're ready?

Yes, sir.

All right, so Chairman King and Councilmember Green, we're gonna actually get to the heart of the issue.

So I may be skipping over some uh particular slides, so we're gonna get going here.

You know, I'm joined with two of our chiefs, Chief Landry and then the assistant chief Ganttier, two of our captains, Captain Plumbo and Captain Meeshu.

So let's get into it.

All right.

Um these are the topics I'm gonna basically cover, but I'm gonna jump over particularly crime statistics because you got those already from the DA.

So let's begin with one of the more important issues associated with the French quarter follow-up on the terrorist attack and associated with uh barriers.

Uh I think all of our council members have been kept up to breast, but we do want the public to know that we are still working on um the city choosing the right type of barriers to make the urban street corridors safer, the promenade safer.

We've uh for the last year and over a year, we've met with many stakeholders, particularly in the French border, and we have now made a proposal to the city for 18 permanent barriers along Bourbon Street and Jackson Square.

The issue of actually finalizing this project is associated with bond money now.

It's just the funding.

I know that we've looked at all kinds of systems, and in the end, it was a decision by council with recommendations by experts as well as ourselves.

So that's where we stand today, is a funding source, which would be through the bonds to pay for 18 barriers.

All right.

Let's talk about the transition associated with the council's direction to me at the last council meeting meeting right before Christmas.

We had been asked and directed, not only by the council, but by our executive, uh, Mayor Moreno, to transfer the parking and the tow functions from the Department of Public Works over to NOPD.

And it is not that simple as we all know.

There were a total of 88 employees that would be affected by that move to NOPD.

We had to do a background check, not the same level of background that we would do for a police officer, but still we're required to do background checks to bring someone under the umbrella of the New Orleans Police Department.

Of the 88, 77 of the 88 are eligible for transfer over to the NLPD.

There is a requirement for the council to make some ordinance changes first, and then you've got that scheduled at the end of this month, excuse me, at the end of April and/or early May.

So we actually expect to bring over and make the transfer official in the month of May.

Next were the crime stats, but I'm jumping over those because I think the DEA did a good job of expressing the numbers.

So I'm not going to repeat what those strategies are because he did a very good job of addressing it.

The one though that we are going to be adding to our strategy is the last bullet up there, and that is we're going to collaborate and partner with Thomas Apt, who is the founder of the Violence Reduction Center.

Both the DA brought, I had been familiar with Thomas Apt before coming to New Orleans, and his work on urban crime violence, particularly gun violence.

So as familiar with him.

Commissioner Daniel Shanks will kind of spearhead this new partnership that we will be having with Thomas Aft.

In essence, it's evidence-based precision policing, and it's an add-on to the strategies we're doing today.

I want to give you a quick update about technology.

So in 2025, you may be aware, just to bring our public viewing audience up to speed.

It is now fully implemented.

It was completely implemented in November of 2025, and that records management system is called Mark 43.

What it allowed us to do is to come into compliance to be what we call NIBERS compliant with the nation.

It's how we report our crime statistics nationally, but it also serves us locally as well as specifically to the police department, how we do our crime reports.

And as you can see, it allows our officers and staff to use a system that will help us.

ShotSpotter, as you were aware, was something that when I came into New Orleans or onto the New Orleans Police Department, you as a council at that time were interested in the ShotSpotter program.

I had had experience with ShotSpotter.

You have had Shot Spotter in the past.

So we decided that we would pilot ShotSpotter again.

However, we are going to recommend and have already recommended that we would not go forward with ShotSpotter at this particular time.

And so we have discontinued the program.

And then last technology update is that we have engaged in a new contract prior to 2026 with a company called Sigma Square.

And it is going to be utilized to help us look at old homicide cases, cold cases.

It does have a potential application to help us with overtime management as well.

It's an interesting technology, and one that I would just say if you want more information, we can do it offline.

That's our technology updates.

The biggest biggest issue that has been hanging over the police department for a long time has to do with staffing.

And I thought I would give you an update on our recruitment efforts.

We did have new leadership put over the recruitment unit.

And there was natural transition because Nicole Powell left us and went to Seattle Police Department.

And she had been the lieutenant over the recruitment division, and I put a captain over it.

So the transition was a normal one.

But due to Nicole Powell's leaving us.

Thank you to the city for financially funding that for us.

So we are now up on the Indeed platform.

As a direct result, we have had 77% increase of applicants.

That is speaks for itself.

We have also been able to increase our test takers.

So you know the key to recruitment is how many people apply.

That's the key.

So it's great that you apply, but then we got to move you through the process, and the very next step is test taking.

So we've increased that by 72%.

We are going to be one of the only agencies in this country I know of, no others, in which we are now advertising for part-time police officers.

I will take a part, I'll take two part-timers that give me one whole officer than to have no officer.

So we're looking to do that.

All right, let's move on.

Here are the results of some of our efforts.

So class 206 just graduated last week, and we had 27.

We have class 207 is in process.

28 recruits are in that class.

We expect them to graduate in July.

We are starting next week a brand new class.

We have 18 in that class right now, but we have 19 who are in meds and psychs as we speak.

So we may be able to get more in by the start of the class on Monday.

We also have one lateral officer in the class.

So I want you to know that we now, as of this morning, the very top bullet up there, we have 895 sworn commissioned officers with us.

We have a total staff of 1,274.

Right now we are experienced 14 separations, and that is either due to retirement or some other reason why a person has left this police department, so we've had 14 to date and seven from our professional staff.

I am presently presently working toward putting together what is I would call just for the sake of today a police support technician program.

And this is that pipeline we talked about, like cadets to get them into some formal program that would lead into becoming a full time police officer.

Memphis has uh the police support technician program.

Many agencies around the country have it.

Um they primarily do traffic support as well as they could support us and special events.

Um we're working toward that.

It would require some funding.

It would require um, I believe an ordinance change that would give us the ability to give them some authority.

Facility needs or other big issue.

You already know these issues, uh, but I'm gonna just hit on them very quickly.

Our most critical facility that is um we need a new facility would be property and evidence.

That's our most critical building.

The uh academy, uh, we've outgrown it, especially with our push to hire new people.

The just give you an example, you all know this.

We're spending a lot of good money after facilities that keep breaking down.

So, as an example, the AC, the air conditioning alone for the police academy is 450,000.

Um, on our driving course, and the other location in far east New Orleans, there are no restrooms.

And so when you have several recruits and staff out there on that driving course, and there's nowhere to use a restroom, or you have to hike it across two football fields to even get to a restroom, those are problems with the academy.

Um there's on the table uh the potential opportunity to go to a new location, and that is something for y'all to will discuss offline.

Uh the sixth and the first district have restroom problems.

Um we fixed their air conditioning, but now occasionally their restrooms go totally out.

And when you have 80 people in one district who cannot use a restroom, that's a major problems with facilities.

Um that's kind of we're I'm a big believer of regionalization.

So for training, I would like to look at a regional uh approach as well as facility needs.

All right.

Um headquarters infrastructure update.

We still need to find a place associated with our sex offenders and our IT.

We cannot bring sex offenders into the headquarters, and you knew that.

But the most pressing issue on infrastructure would be the crime lab.

The fourth floor's renovation, uh, that would be for our DNA.

And um that is a capital budget improvement issue.

I think the last number I heard was 10 million dollars to fix that floor.

And then uh we have before you a lab request, a hiring request.

We need a total of three scientists to be able to uh come into the lab to be DNA scientist, or we cannot get accredited.

Overtime is the other big issue for you.

I would say NOPD has done a very, very good job of reducing the overtime you gave us a budget of 24 million, excuse me, 23 million, which I appreciated.

You gave me a budget, and I told you if you give me a budget, I can manage toward that budget.

Uh, we are having to cut back on how many officers we put out on these special events, particularly, but we are managing within the budget you gave us, and you can see we've spent 64 6 million four hundred so far on the first quarter of the year, and that's it.

Councilman Green.

I think that your report is um self-explanatory.

I just want to take an opportunity to um thank the members of the New Orleans Police Department for the work that you've been doing, especially some of that work that has resulted in arrest um homicides, for example.

Um that's part of the process of helping to make our city safer, making sure that those who um don't respect others who um you know engage in crimes, especially crimes against other persons are held accountable.

I want to also commend um members of the New Orleans Police Department.

But what I see in terms of your presence at special events.

It just so happens that I represent a district that includes a couple of second lines that took place recently, and I'm pleased that your officers engage the participants and the community and that they're at the front, the middle, and the back, you know, very honestly.

And we've had events such as the revolution second line and other second lines that have taken place that um have been done well.

I don't know the full report from yesterday, the downtown super Sunday, but I appreciate the police presence and tell me if I'm missing something.

I don't remember that there was incidents that I should be concerned about.

Good.

Thank you.

I don't want to speak and then that not be the case.

So we had an event yesterday that attracted tens of thousands of people with law enforcement officers at the back and at strategic at the front at the back and at strategic locations.

Um getting along with members of the community well, communicating with them well.

I want to say how much I appreciate that and how much how much I see it.

As I look at the crime statistics, as I look at the differences between just a couple of years ago and now, especially 2022 versus now, it actually is a very, very significant and almost for our city, almost a remarkable turnaround.

For example, we were looking at scores of scores of carjackings just a couple of years ago.

Those statistics moving in the right direction are more than just statistics.

That's people who are less victimized by crime, people who can feel that they can go inside and come outside and not have to worry about being carjacked, that they don't hear as many gunshots in their communities.

A lot of that work is because our first responders are there.

You responded quickly.

Yesterday I witnessed an unfortunate accident on Claiborne Avenue, um, where a motorcyclist crashed into a car and was flipped over his motorcycle within a very short period of time.

It's very difficult as it was to traverse that area because of the um aftermath of the or the continuing party that was going on on Claiborne.

Members of the New Orleans Police Department were there to make sure that that person could be stabilized and also to direct traffic so that there wouldn't be any interruptions.

Those are the things that people don't see.

It's not going to be recorded.

I want to let you know that I see it and I appreciate that.

And congratulations to the recruitment um class.

I know a couple of um the recruitment staff, I know a couple of the recruits of the last class 206, um, including someone who I never thought would be a member of the New Orleans Police Department.

But he chose to because, as he mentioned, he sees progress and he wants to be part of making our city safer.

So thank you for your presentations and your availability.

And um know that whatever I can do to assist, I will do to assist.

I also want to encourage us to continue to work with the state officials because there is so many, there are so many resources available on the state level.

I don't think that we tap because we don't ask for.

I don't want to see us slow down any in any way relative to making sure our citizens are safer.

But let's use that resource to the best of our ability.

So thank you very much, Chief.

Thank you, Chief.

We are going to um limit the number of um comments because I was told we can add them, just put them in the record.

So we're going to have uh comments from Mr.

Beld and Batisse and from Ms.

Scott.

The rest would be in the record.

We're gonna do two for independent police mindset when they finish presenting.

So, Mr.

Batista, the floor is yours.

Good morning, Councilman.

Let me know if I go out the scope of not talking about the police.

First of all, I want to address Miss Ann Kirkpatrick.

Ms.

Ann Kirkpatrick, you can answer the question.

You don't have to answer it.

I want to know how could you be at the inspector general violating the police bill of rights?

And you know what I'm talking about.

What I'm talking about, Consulman Freddie King is they got a bill of rights by the police.

So the inspector general don't have to follow the bill of rights.

But if you investigate, you got to file the police bill of rights.

This inspector general is not.

I'm so glad we got a police chief by the name of Michael Harrison to be over Homeland Security.

And I hope he really listened to what I said because he knows about the police bill of rights.

She has violated that since she's been there.

That's number one.

Number two, I want to talk about this police over time.

Now we know two cops did the wrong thing, and I agree.

They got to have a million dollars.

But you're gonna tell me about the white cops, Miss Kirkpatrick, and you know what I'm talking about.

They have did the same thing, Mr.

King.

So we can't have double standards with the NOPD.

If the blacks broke the law, why are the whites not being held accountable?

My third thing before I close.

We wrote you, Miss Kirkpatrick, about racism.

This cop stand here is the second in charge, Hans Gottley.

And planted a gun on him.

Twelve of the officers to this day.

What the beast conduct cafe.

This man, Hans Gotley has not been held accountable.

Y'all put him all across the city like he's the great white hole.

But he treated black officers wrong.

Something is wrong.

What that, Miss Kirkpatrick.

And let me tell you, Norley hopes you resign.

Two minutes, Miss Scott.

Hi.

Again, my name is Miss Shante Scott.

I want to address the issue of police policy and accountability.

My son was murdered by NOPD officer Victor Gant's son Andrew Gantt on November twenty fourth, two thousand nineteen.

So Miss Scott, your comments were deemed to be not your main.

All right, we're gonna go on to our final presentation.

We won't have any public comments following this presentation.

The ones we do have have been given to Miss Leader before the record.

I'm Stella Cement, the independent police monitor for the City of New Orleans, and I'm joined by Chriselle Williams, our deputy police monitor.

Today we're going to provide an overview of uh relevant oversight data and then provide a brief um status update on some projects and work out of the office of the independent police monitor.

So with that, we'll begin.

This data that you're seeing is reflecting the real-time data across complaints, use of force, and community engagement of our office.

Our goal here is to give you a clear sense of both our workload and where we are having an impact in the city.

And I'll start with complaints, which is primary the primary way that the public interacts with our office.

So we try to make the complaint process in our office as accessible as possible where community members can come into our office in person and submit complaints, or call or text our 24 hour hotline, which Stella will talk about separately, and or they can submit directly through our website.

So far this year we've received 105 complaints of officer misconduct.

The vast majority of the complaints as you can see have come from the community members, which shows that the public is aware of our office and how we um have how we take complaints.

We receive complaints through multiple intake methods, and we monitor this data to make sure we reach the people across the city.

If you look at our on trend data, you can see how complaint volume has shifted from year to year.

Our year to date complaint total, which again is 105, has already surpassed the yearly complaint total of 88 in 2025 due to a number of complaints we received regarding facial recognition usage.

We also track complaints by districts, which lets us see what's happening around the city geographically.

This data reflects where the alleged misconduct occurred based on complaint reports and it includes only incidents that are tied to physical location.

So this helps us identify patterns and allows us to focus on outreach and oversight where most be need it may be needed most.

District 8 has the highest number of complaints, which is consistent with the higher volume of activity and visitors in that area, which is not concerning to us at all.

Our next slide is for use of force and critical incidents, and this is one of the most critical parts of our work.

We respond 24 hours a day and monitor level 4 critical incidents, which include officer involved shootings, deaths and custodies, and serious use of force.

And so far this year, we've monitored one critical incident, which was an officer involved shooting, which resulted in one firearm discharge.

And we also monitored two additional force monitoring incidents that our office actually went out to the scene for, but they did not rise to the level of level four critical incident.

Our role on scene is to observe and ensure that the investigation is handled properly in line with policy.

We also participate in the use of force review board where level four and other serious uses of force are reviewed and evaluated.

That process is important because it determines whether the force was within policy, practice, and training.

And oversight here is especially important because this these decisions happens in rooms where civilians are not present.

And while we're not voting members, we serve as an independent voice to help ensure transparency and accountability.

The next one is we actually do disciplinary hearings and accommodations, review disciplinary investigations that go before hearings and superintendent panels.

Our role here is to assess whether investigations are thorough, timely, and complying with policy and law.

So far this year we received 14 hearing notifications.

And we don't just observe these hearings, we provide recommendations both in writing and during deliberations to members of the panels who are making disciplinary recommendations to the superintendent.

Oversight is not just about misconduct, but it's also recognizing good policing and what NLPD is doing well.

This year so far, unfortunately, we have not received any combination requests, but it's still only the first quarter, and we we do welcome all feedback.

The next slide focuses on mediation and community liaison work.

Our mediation program is a key alternative traditional complaint process.

Instead of going straight to an investigation, mediation allows for direct dialogue between officers and community members.

So far this year, we've held seven mediations and already have one pending for the month of April.

We also assist community members in navigating the police system.

That can include helping with questions about ongoing investigations, answering general questions about complaint process, or connected them with the right resources.

We've had six community liaisons as well as six contact-only interactions this year.

Community outreach and public engagement.

Community engagement is required and essential part of our work.

We are required to meet regularly across all council districts with police associations, but we also go beyond that.

So far this year, we've held our attended 19 community outreach events.

In the month of March along, we've held we've attended and held 12 events.

That includes our coffee with the IPM, trying to be present at the Umbuntu Village, um, healing the block party, as well as the St.

Rock Party this um this week past weekend.

So we try to engage with a wide range of groups, community organizations, NLPD, and elected officials and others that helps us stay connected to what people are experiencing on the ground.

And lastly, Monitors Mike.

Monitors Mike was a great platform to passively reach New Orleans and share important information about policing and oversight.

The live show has ended in January due to budget cuts, but we were fortunate enough to have Chief Ann Kernpatrick as our final guest on the show.

However, the episodes are still archived and still available on our website as well as Spotify if you just search for Monitors Mic on Spotify.

Overall, our goal with this show is to make oversight visible, accessible, and meaningful to the public.

And with that overview of our work and data so far in 2026, I'll go ahead and turn it over to Stella.

Thank you.

And I just want to remind everyone that you can look up our work, including our 2026 work plan.

All of our monthly reports are put online, and we are now doing summaries on our social media accounts.

And here's all the information to be able to follow us on our social media accounts.

So now I'm gonna move on to discussing some of our relevant work and project updates.

First, I would like to say a brief word about that independent police monitor appointment process.

There was an article that was posted on NOLA.com at the beginning of March regarding the appointment of the independent police monitor, which is right now me.

So I would just like to answer a couple questions that we've received from the public since that article was posted.

The independent police monitor is an appointed position.

It serves in four-year terms.

The ethics review board is the appointing authority for the independent police monitor and for the inspector general.

So the ethics review board is responsible for selecting an independent police monitor.

The selection of an independent police monitor must be compliant with the home rule charter, and I have the article number there.

It requires that a national search is conducted for the independent police monitor, and then it gives discretion to the ethics review board to be able to reappoint the uh the independent police monitor to additional terms.

There are specific requirements for the independent police monitor.

It requires that it be an attorney with substantial experience in particular areas of law, including criminal law, constitutional law, civil rights law, and administrative law, or an individual that preferably has a master's degree and five years experience in law enforcement oversight.

The position requires that they have knowledge of law enforcement, particularly of internal processes regarding uses of force and discipline.

It is a position that requires a high high amount of integrity and sound judgment and awareness of the different demands and social economic situation of New Orleans, the diversity of New Orleans, the cultural traditions of New Orleans, and an ability to work with the various stakeholders that have to do with this office, including law enforcement, the community, and governmental stakeholders.

I was formally appointed to be the independent police monitor after a national search in April 2022.

My four-year term is done this year.

It just happens to coincide with the new mayor and with her selection of departmental leaders, but those two processes are not actually related.

I have not resigned the position.

I did formally request reappointment in March, and the public can learn more about that process by attending ethics review board meetings or going onto their website and following along in the process.

It will all be public.

So it makes up seven members who serve six-year terms.

An additional relevant update that I would like to notify the public of is that we do have an RFP up in live for general counsel for the Office of the Independent Police Monitor.

This is a contractor position.

You can learn more by going to our site and reviewing the RFP.

We're looking for any attorney with experience in governmental and administrative systems to consider whether this is an appropriate position for you.

Additionally, our hotline is live.

We want to remind everyone that they can call or text 1877-225-0IPM.

That's 225 6476.

OIPM.

You can submit via text online or phone, and we take accounts of officer misconduct or accounts of positive policing.

So please let us know about your interactions with the NOPD.

In 2026, we released our OIPM work plan to the public and to all of our stakeholders.

In 2026, we have a lot of big goals.

And our database that we share with the NOPD to release police misconduct award and force data.

We are continuing community outreach and prioritizing collaborations with partners.

I really appreciated the work that we heard about this morning regarding the 10 pillars.

And I would like to say that OIPM would like to partner to be able to collaborate with that with those efforts because we agreed with the coordinate with purpose idea and spirit to ensure that families understand how not how to navigate the complicated systems in the criminal justice world from courtrooms to police interactions.

And we think our office could play a role in that.

And we want to generate more public-facing work product.

In 2026, we monitored Mardi Gras policing during Mardi Gras, and we released an updated guide to policing differences during Mardi Grass season.

That's available on our website.

We also participated in public safety walks.

We were able to observe and monitor how NOP NOPD was utilizing drones to provide public safety on the parade routes.

And we were able to watch the mounted unit and NOPD officers break up a fight that also included an individual who had a weapon.

And they were able to promptly break up that fight before it resulted in the use of that gun.

And so we commend them on that effort, and it was great to be able to monitor how they were able to quickly disperse a fight and ensure that it didn't result in a stampede or in anything else that could cause public harm.

Well, there are your multiple candidates recommendation.

Yes, yes, very true.

Speaking of accommodations and recognizing good work within the NOPD, we now sponsor a constitutional policing award, which we just give out on Friday to a recruit within class 206.

This is the second award we've been able to give out.

And the Constitutional Policing Award is an award that is assessed and selected through NOPD's Academy to the recruit that best demonstrates the ability to be able to put into practice constitutional policing, including identifying reasonable to be able to recognize all of the policy and legal guidance that is required for reasonable doubt, for reasonable suspicion, for appropriate searches and seizures, and for appropriate uses of force.

So again, we appreciate the partnership that we have with the Academy to be able to recognize a recruit in this regard.

And then finally, we are expanding the community district mediation program.

Jason Williams, our district attorney mentioned that he wants to reduce calls, unnecessary calls to the police, and ensure that there's the case that never was.

Well, this is our way to also participate in that effort by ensuring that the community has a way to be able to resolve conflicts, ongoing conflicts, and ensure that that there's also another case that never was that effectively an individual is able to resolve their conflict with use of our mediation program.

So that way they don't need to call 911 when it's not necessary, and um and they're able to resolve the underlying conflict.

So with that, are there any questions for the Office of the Independent Police Monitor?

Uh well, yes, I think that was a very important slide.

I like a little bit more information.

Obviously, you're talking about well, tell me what you mean.

You're gonna hire conflict negotiators to be in the community out of your office, and um, do you have the resources for that?

And are you gonna ask the state for assistance?

That's all my that's my my question all year to be.

Yes, so we do have the resources for that.

So we train every year, we have a cohort of trained mediators, and we have those mediate mediators available for our community police mediation program.

So now what we're doing is expanding that to include conflicts that might occur between community members.

So we already have all of the trained mediators that are contractors for our office.

We already have the contracts in place, we already have the budget for those individuals.

Right now, we have not received a lot of demand for this program, but it is still in its beginning phases, so we're hopeful that it will expand as people learn that it's available, and then we'll be able to determine if in the future we need to apply for grants to be able to support the program continuing.

But right now it's really in place for individuals who might be utilizing police services to be able to negotiate conflict resolution, and um and after talking to district captains and to officers located in our police districts, they don't feel that they have the skills, the time, and the ability to be able to constantly go out to those scenes to be able to negotiate between um arguing neighbors or a homeowner and a business that's located nearby about like trash pickup or noise concerns.

And so what we're doing is stepping in so that way the police department doesn't have to keep going out for the same issue over and over and over again, and um, and they're really not equipped to be able to sit down with the two arguing parties and be able to have a thorough conversation about like how do we move forward, how do we coexist together?

And what we're saying is that we should be tagged in and be able to provide those services instead.

So our NOPD officers actually have small business cards that have all of the information about this program on them.

They carry them whenever they're doing any type of walking the beat or when they're responding to calls, and if they see individuals that they think might qualify, they hand them the card.

We also put up signs in all of the police districts, Nord centers, and libraries to be able to notify the public of this important program.

And I just would like to add to that that on Saturday when I um tabling at Hill in the Block and cutoff.

Yes, allows you.

I was able to there, yes.

A lot of community members were very interested in that program when they finally heard about that.

Um there were a lot of members of the community talking about how they have ongoing conflicts with certain people in their neighborhood or even domestic conflicts with people in their homes, that they would like to um actually get out of services and reach out to us for that.

So I think it's a good idea to be able to expand this program to right now.

We're currently, I believe, in the second and sixth yes, but we're expanding it.

And expand it to the rest of the districts, and it was just a very interesting thing that people wanted to hear more and more about.

I noticed on Saturday.

And and it again is another chance to be able to collaborate with the principals that we heard about with the 10 pillars when they were talking about support for individuals that are returning from incarceration and how there might be conflict there as individuals transition back to their lives.

You know, this is a service that might be beneficial for for people to consider if if they're having conflict as as they're um acclimating back to our community, we want to make sure that they have support and and this is one way to be able to support them.

So again, we would love to be considered as as you're thinking about how how do we comprehensively together collaborate on how to best serve our community.

This is one of those ways.

Well, I have a case for you today that I'll give you of someone in a community who complains that there is a resident who every time someone passes in front of her crime camera, she calls the police when it's on her house.

Yes, and it's got a conflict with the entire community, but the police can't keep going back every time she calls.

She may have a little bit of a challenge here, but maybe that's a worthy thing to say if you want to look at it.

Yeah, and and sometimes, you know, just simply providing information about what the police can and can't do in a non-judgmental environment is is sometimes enough.

Because you know, I I think so many people you rely on the muscles you have, and the NOPD might be an overdeveloped muscle for our public, and so what we're trying to give them is options so that way they don't have to dial 911 and they don't have to engage with our already um overworked police department.

Okay.

Can you go back to the 105 figure, which is 105 additional incidents or the number of incidents of complaints?

Because I want to make sure that we don't have a big headline making it seem as if you know something is out of control.

Could you explain that number again?

And you said that it might be tied to a particular fact.

Yes, yes.

So we have received an increase in complaints of officer misconduct.

The majority of the complaints that we've received have has been about the use of facial recognition technology by NOPD officers.

So now with public record information, um, there's different organizations and individuals in the community.

But it's not 105 instances of facial recognition being used.

No, it is not necessarily a hundred and five individual incidents of facial recognition being used.

So it might be about um uh different times of facial recognition was used, or different individuals who might have received information about matches on facial recognition software, and then chose to take police action once receiving that information based on public records.

So if like five officers receive that information, there might be five complaints filed about those five officers who received that information.

So is that something, for example, that it also involves complaints when people are first off?

I don't know tell tell me why that would trigger someone.

How would they get triggered?

Someone I would send them a letter saying your face has been identified, or just tell me what would happen.

So the majority of the public what would happen because I want to make sure we understand that there are safeguards against the use of facial recognition.

There are safeguards against the use of facial recognition software.

The majority of these c complaints are coming from information that's in the um in public spaces.

So this might be every single time that say, for example, Project NOLA posts on their Facebook account that they were um a partner in an arrest in the French quarter.

There might be community groups or individuals who will see that information and then take that information and file a complaint that NOPD utilized um information provided by Project NOLA to be able to officiate an arrest.

Right, but all in order for them to use it, there's a check mechanism that um or safeguards that we've put in place.

So the number of in I'm always curious as to when we get down to the bottom line.

How many times have NOPD officers used facial recognition?

I mean, 105 complaints based on Project NOLA, for example, which is a private concern, which puts out notices all the time.

I see them because that's what they kind of do.

But it doesn't necessarily, for example, they are involved with the state, you know, officials and federal officials.

They provide information.

So that doesn't mean that NOPD, because I'm concerned about New Orleans Police Department and New Orleans Police, doesn't mean that there are 105 instances of them using facial recognition.

It means it is complaints, and it may not necessarily be that it was New Orleans Police Departments.

This is also spanning a period of time, so it's these might be about uses of this um or like documented uh receiving of that information from you know, potentially last year or longer than that.

It doesn't necessarily mean that it came like the complaint is not necessarily about the use of of facial recognition this year.

This year, some of them are spanning from we did this public records request, we see this information, this happened in 2024.

This happened on this date in 2024.

So just because we received them this year does not mean that they actually occurred this year.

Okay.

And the other thing is these are allegations, these are not sustained complaints.

So at this time, we're not saying 105 times NOPD has been found to be in violation of facial recognitions software policy.

Right.

We're saying that an individual has raised a complaint, which effectively is like raising an inquiry.

Right.

Look at this.

If someone can raise a complaint, even when the police are using it correctly, when they've gone through the safeguard mechanism and the like.

And I'm always interested in the resolution of the matter.

How many instances where they're found?

I'm sure that the number is zero, but maybe I'm wrong, of the members of the New Orleans Police Department violating facial recognition policy.

I think that there aren't many.

Any?

There are some.

There are some.

There are some.

Sustained violations of use of facial recognition?

Yes, I believe so.

Yes.

Oh, how many?

Over what time period?

Uh I would say like a handful.

Like over what time period?

Oh, over the time period like uh that people have been looking at, which has mostly been 2025 and 2024.

I don't believe there's anything from 2023 at this time.

No, I don't know anything of anything from 2023, but only one I can say definitively, um, Councilmember Green, we'll have to actually look.

I don't want to miss you can give you a wrong number, but definitively I can say I do know one that has been sustained this year.

I'm not sure if there's have been any more, but um that's something that we can look into and get back to you.

Yeah, I want to get back.

I want to be able to answer the public.

I think that by me asking the question, we've been able to answer.

I don't want anybody to think there are 105 instances of the NOPD using facial recognition that the community is identified as something something that is sustainable.

That's all.

Of course.

Okay, if there's anything else that you think that I need, because you know that that's a topic that I'm interested in.

Because on the other hand, I will tell you that there have been instances where facial recognition has been used, for example, with the bywater arsonist to identify.

Y'all don't have to necessarily acknowledge this, but I happen to know that facial recognition was used to identify the bywater arsonist who is now on federal charges, but that's just a whole other issue.

But I just want to clarify that before I get calls and before people start using a number that doesn't equate to the realities of the sustainability.

That's all okay.

Thank you.

All right.

Did you all sign your new lease?

Uh yes, but I believe it's held up right now.

It's expired, isn't it?

Yes.

But I believe I believe it's held up something about maybe providing some additional documents are the bus the property manager has to provide some additional documents to the city, I believe.

That's fine.

Okay.

Like regarding like insurance or something.

Okay.

All right.

Any uh comments?

No.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you for your presentation.

Unfortunately, we don't have enough council members to adjourn, so this meeting perpetual is perpetual.

We can't adjourn.

I'm just joking, it's fine.

It's over.

It goes on forever.

Thank you so much.

Not adjournable.

Mr.

Council.