New Orleans Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson speaks to reporters outside federal court in New Orleans on Aug. 17, 2022. In hopes of bolstering a dwindling police force amid violent crime On the rise, New Orleans officials announced a 3-year, $80 million plan on Thursday, September 8, 2022 that provides pay increases for all officers, free health care and $30,000 incentive payment for new employees.
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Kevin McGill / AP
New Orleans Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson speaks to reporters outside federal court in New Orleans on Aug. 17, 2022. In hopes of bolstering a dwindling police force amid violent crime On the rise, New Orleans officials announced a 3-year, $80 million plan on Thursday, September 8, 2022 that provides pay increases for all officers, free health care and $30,000 incentive payment for new employees.
Kevin McGill / AP
Over the years, police departments across the country had difficulty bring in rookies. The New Orleans Police Department is getting very creative and will hire civilians to perform a number of missions.
They will have tasks such as monitoring online and phone reports, issuing traffic citations, surveying major events like Mardi Gras and the Elite Festival, and even performing some investigative work.
New Orleans Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said last Thursday civilians will also be sent to calls that may not require officers, such as collecting preliminary evidence, lax pet protection. and respond to tampering, some medical details and some theft, New Orleans Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said last Thursday.
“The goal of all of this is to make our officers feel safe so they can make our citizens and visitors feel safe,” Ferguson said. “This is also to alleviate some of the workload currently available to our patrol and district staff. But more importantly, this is designed to reduce response and resolution times. backlogs that we have in some of our counties.”
The ministry will hire between 50 and 75 civilians. Ferguson said it is still rolling out a training program for civilian recruits. They are also hiring for other more qualified positions.
Other changes to the hiring process include no longer assessing credit scores or asking potential hires if they had ever used marijuana before applying to the force.
The response time for priority calls was 11 minutes, although Ferguson wanted to get them to the single digits, he said.
“All of this is an attempt to … be in a competitive position to hire more staff with the New Orleans Police Department,” said Ferguson. “So my message to those who may have been disqualified for any of these reasons in the past – I suggest you resubmit your application because of some hiring criteria Ours has changed.”
“If you’re looking for a job, we’re hiring, we’re definitely hiring,” Ferguson added.
