NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration is getting some heat for not revealing the names of the six finalists for New Orleans Police Department superintendent.
The six candidates will be in New Orleans next week, taking questions from a panel that was chosen by Cantrell, but some city council members say they want to have more input.
Interim NOPD Superintendent Michelle Woodfork is among the six candidates for New Orleans police chief, but the five remaining candidates remain a mystery.
“Please, mayor, please, mayor, please, with sugar on top. Call the press conference. Tell us who has applied,” Senator John Kennedy said Wednesday while speaking on the senate floor.
New Orleans City Councilman-at-Large JP Morrell questions the application process, saying during the two-week application window, 33 candidates were selected, which was dwindled down to six candidates in two days.
According to Morrell, the council was stonewalled by the group assisting the city with search, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, when they inquired about the criteria used during the elimination process.
“The council has a confirmation process and where we would rather have had people be publicly vetted before they get to that final person, the council is really now in a position where we’re basically going to have to treat this like there was no selection to begin with because we have no information as to how they pick the ultimate person,” Morrell said.
Councilman Oliver Thomas says it’s not unusual that the candidates’ names haven’t publicly been released.
“Each mayor, each administration kind of does it their way this administration did it their way,” Thomas said. “My job is now to help evaluate who’s the best candidate to help lead the city and make the city safe.”
Thomas was selected by Cantrell to be a part of the internal panel; however, he says he doesn’t know who the candidates are as of Thursday.
“We need to come up with who’s going to lead this department sooner than later, at least so the public can rally around that person and so the force can rally around that person,” Thomas said.
The president of the Police Association of New Orleans, Captain Michel Glasser, says they have not been invited to participate in the search but have sent a letter to the city’s chief administrative officer, requesting participation, and they are awaiting a response.
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