The Future of Criminal Justice in New Orleans with Mayor Helena Moreno

New Orleans has had one of the nation's highest murder rates every year for decades. Since 2023, however, violent crime has dropped sharply — and in this episode, I talk with Mayor Helena Moreno about crime and criminal justice in New Orleans. We discuss the city's difficulties, like a severe budget crisis and the ongoing challenge of abysmally low sexual assault clearance rates, as well as the city's successes. 

Mayor Moreno has had a front row seat to the city's crime rise and subsequent decline, and she details what she attributes the historic drop to — a combination of prevention investments like expanded summer jobs programs and violence intervention, targeted policing of the most violent offenders, and critical partnerships with state and federal law enforcement. Crime and criminal justice issues in New Orleans are often a microcosm of what is happening nationally, and this conversation puts a spotlight on how to attack problems happening both in New Orleans and throughout the country.

Mayor Helena Moreno is a leader whose path to City Hall began not in politics, but as an Emmy-winning investigative reporter at WDSU. After years of exposing systemic failures behind the anchor desk, Moreno transitioned to public service in 2010, eventually serving as City Council President before her historic mayoral victory in 2025. Throughout her career, she has been a tireless advocate for accountability and equity—spearheading reforms ranging from cannabis decriminalization and renewable energy initiatives to expanded protections for sexual assault survivors. Born in Mexico and fueled by her early experiences as an immigrant, Mayor Moreno now brings that same spirit of urgency and responsiveness to the city’s highest office.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, I'm Jeff Asher, and this is the Jeffalytics Podcast. New Orleans is one of the most beloved and recognizable cities in America. People know it for the music, the food, Mardi Gras, and a culture that's unlike anywhere else. It's also a place that I'm proud to call home. But New Orleans is also known for its crime. The city has had one of the nation's five highest murder rates every year since the mid-1980s. Since 2023, however, the numbers have started moving in a vastly different direction. Violent crime in New Orleans has dropped sharply, even as the city wrestles with massive financial, infrastructure, and police staffing challenges. In this episode, I talked with Mayor Helena Moreno about crime and criminal justice in New Orleans. We discuss how to navigate public safety challenges that are both local and national and the way forward on these issues in the city that care for crime. Crime and criminal justice issues in New Orleans are often a microcosm of what is meaning nationally. And this conversation puts a spotlight on how to attack problems happening both in New Orleans and throughout the country. Let's dive in. My guest today is the wonderful mayor of the wonderful city of New Orleans, Helena Marina. Helena, thank you so much for joining me. Hey Jeb, great to see you. Great to be with you. Good to see you as well. So my first question is, and I know this may take the entirety of the interview because I know you have an extensive background, but what is your background? How did you get to be here today?

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Oh my gosh. So I never in a million years, if you go back, you know, to my, I don't know, early 20s, thought I would be here. I came to the city of New Orleans in my early 20s to be a news reporter. And all I ever wanted to be was a news reporter and eventually make it to the anchor desk and be an investigative reporter as well. And and in New Orleans, I was able to do all of those things working for the NBC affiliate. And then Hurricane Katrina happened. Hurricane Katrina happened and it changed my life as it the lives of everybody living here in the city of New Orleans. And when I uh started working as a journalist in in in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, I really felt like journalists had this kind of elevated responsibility to help rebuild New Orleans, bring people home. And so all of a sudden, I what I thought my job was had been elevated to really advocating for New Orleans. And when things started to go back around 2008 to just like the way things were before, and just about, you know, the stories of the day and what's the big national story and all of that, I started to think it's like, do I really just want to do this? I want to do actually now more for my city, which is when I decided to first run for office. And I thought, go big or go home. So I ran for United States Congress. And at that time, the voters sent me home. But I but I had great people like Senator Mary Landrew, our former U.S. senator, who was like, you know, there's a spot for you, keep keep at it. And like clockwork, a special election opened up for the legislative seat where I lived. And I ran for that legislative seat, was elected to the Louisiana legislature. I served there from 2010 to 2018. And then I went uh to the New Orleans City Council and served there for two terms, and then was elected mayor this past October and inaugurated in January. So, really, my background is in media and in journalism. But ultimately, it's always been about advocacy for the city of New Orleans. And this is just another way in which I advocate and support the city of New Orleans.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

I want to ask, because you're really effective, I think, at this the short form video. It's an art form, it's a skill, it's something that, like you look at at Mayor Mamdami up in New York, had was it just like great, greatly effective at sort of skipping all of the traditional means of talking to the public and communicating with them. Has that really changed how you communicate with everyone, how you you pass messages? And how how do you pick that up? How do you succeed in something like that?

SPEAKER_01 4:02

So, you know, someone coming from traditional media, I would always get frustrated that it's like I'd I'd be, you know, whatever the issue would be, I'd be leading every newscast. I'm on the front page of the paper, yet people would totally miss it, right? And during the campaign, it would be so annoying that I would address certain issues. And once again, all the traditional media would cover it. And yet I'd still get all these questions, like, well, what about this? And I'm like, oh my gosh, it's been covered. So that's when during the campaign, I just started to do these quick little walk-in talks on Sundays just on issues I was working on that I wanted to talk about. And they're short form, you know, no more than, unless I have a lot to talk about, but the longest I think I've ever gone is like a little bit over five minutes. And so they're short, usually less than three minutes, and just quick updates on what I'm working on, an issue that I see, and the solution to it. And I started that during the campaign every Sunday. So then I got elected into office and I just kind of kept it going every Sunday. And then I got inaugurated into office and I just keep kept it going. And the average view we get for like the not super popular walk and talks that I do on Sundays get about 150,000 views.

unknown 5:17

So that's I know.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

So those are like the like the eh, it was kind of boring this time around. Only 150,000 views. So so I and people, I uh and as I go through through the city, people always come up and compliment me on them. And they just it I think it's just a quick way for just people to see like, what did she do last week? What's going on this week, what's happening within city government? And so now people are just expecting it. So I think the key to these messages are there has to be a consistency to them. There needs to be an expectation of when potentially these things could be coming out, and then also that they're short. You know, I mean, the reason why I think people like them, it's because usually they're no longer than than three minutes. I know that there's others who've tried to who are like, oh, let me do that as well, but they don't have the consistency to them. And so they're like, how come people aren't at, you know, listening to my videos? I was like, yeah, because you have to const you you can't stop. You can't do it like twice in one month and skip a whole month and then come back on. And it's like it has to be about that consistency and expectation. But look, the bottom line, people are getting all of their information from their phones. It's not TV and it's not the newspaper, Jeff, the way that you and I grew up, you know? Where I I'm now knocking on the door of 50. I I I still think of myself as like a young person, but then I realize, oh wait, I'm almost 50. And so we have to we have to meet people where they're at, meet people where they are getting their information, and it's it's on social media and it's it's on their phone. So that's what I what I'm trying to do as well.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

I have to ask, as a completely failed TikToker myself, and someone who, whenever I have to record videos for our Instagram channel, it is like pulling teeth with me. How many takes does it take you to record a video? Because I'm on like 14 for a 90-second clip. Usually it's one. That's one take that is the most impressive thing imaginable.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

Well, because the thing is, it's like, you know, this ultimately is my Sunday. So it's usually one take. Sometimes, if some sometimes if I'm on a walk, things will happen, like, you know, something will interrupt me or whatever. So I'll have to do like a couple takes or whatever. But usually it's one take. The one definitely this past Sunday was one take. I was in the car, and you know, like obviously as a passenger, not driving, because sometimes when I when I do the videos in the car, people are like, Are you driving? I'm like, no, I'm not driving and doing a video. So anyway, but usually one take because I also want it to be natural. Like, I don't want it to be scripted. It is really just me talking to the people of the city of what's going on within their city government.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

That that is truly impressive, I have to say. Is this like I can't even imagine doing it all the time?

SPEAKER_01 8:04

I mean, obviously, I do put thought into it. Like today, I want to talk about these three things. You know, I don't just like turn the phone on and record. You know, I think I obviously think about it in advance what I want to talk about. But yeah, usually it's one take.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

So I want to turn to more of the criminal justice side. Obviously, I I like talking about the communication element because I think it's critical and it's sort of at the heart of what I'm trying to think about on the podcast. Obviously, your challenge, and you've only been in office two months or so as we're recording this. The challenges are immense in the city of New Orleans. What do you think is sort of your biggest challenge, and where does the crime, criminal justice angle fit in right now?

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Yeah, I mean, uh it's been widely reported and I talk about it all the time. It's the the city finances and the budget. We have a real budget crisis around our general fund. And moving into the the 2026 budget, Jeff, I had to make substantial cuts across the board. But one thing I was able to preserve is ensuring that our essential services, including public safety, that that those agencies did not receive cuts. If I don't succeed in revenue-raising measures with a sanitation fee that's incredibly unpopular and raising that sanitation fee, you know, through the city council, if I don't achieve some of these things or or or get some of my bills across the board, the legislature, then unfortunately I will be faced with no choice. But for 2027 to make cuts into uh public safety, which I don't want to do. I've I've been able to exempt first responder agencies from furloughs, but I may not be able to do that if I don't succeed in some of these revenue raising measures. There's just the other departments that we've cut, there's just there's just no additional uh cuts that can be made. I mean, if anybody has any ideas on that, I I welcome them. But we have cut so much. Just the mayor's office alone, I eliminated 36 positions. So that that's that's the challenge, Jeff, is to ensure the things that I need to do to stabilize our budget and structurally fix our budget, that those things get accomplished. And then if that happens, I'll be in in pretty good shape, you know, public safety-wise. On the budgeting side for our New Orleans Police Department, one of the things that we really had to come in and and manage tightly is the overtime. The overtime for our New Orleans Police Department, and the legislative auditor also agrees with this, is that it was pretty it pretty much became a free-for-all. And the spending on overtime wasn't based on necessity, but was based on spend as much as possible on overtime. And so don't get me wrong, overtime is certainly necessary for our New Orleans Police Department and to meet the the needs of our city, but it was it's not a free-for-all type of spending luxury that that that that they were using it as. So with the accountability measures that we put in place for overtime, what we've seen is already projecting about a$10 million less in expenditures than we had projected. So we put you know roughly$38 million into the overtime budget this year, and it and it may be$10 million less than that which is spent. So that just goes to show you that better management and accountability that that goes a long way.

SPEAKER_00 11:25

How has your perspective on all of these issues, especially specifically related to crime and criminal justice? How has that changed from sort of your days as a reporter to the legislator to the city council to where you sit now?

SPEAKER_01 11:36

Well, things are very different, Jeff. You know, I mean, when I was a reporter, the New Orleans Police Department was much larger than it is now. I mean, this was in the early 2000s. Uh, so we had a much bigger police department. It was pre-Katrina, it was pre-consent decree, and you know, the the level of abuses that we were reporting from the department were constant. To then, of course, me entering the legislature and Mitch Landrew coming into office with uh Chief Harrison, Chief Harrison, who is now my deputy mayor of public safety, but they moved forward with a consent decree, which of course then put in place many of the different necessary reforms for our NOPD, which I believe made them a much more effective and constitutional police department, and one that I think can be a gold standard for the rest of the country. And so then that change occurred. And then on the city council getting to understand more about the operations and deployment of the NOPD to now being mayor and working very closely with Chief Kirkpatrick and her leadership team on initiatives. One of the things that I that I do appreciate about Chief Kirkpatrick is the fact that, you know, she looks at her force, the number of officers that she has, and then goes and finds ways to fill gaps through either partnerships with our state and federal partners or figure out ways to fill gaps through different technology that we can bring in to assist the police force. So the relationships that we have with our state and federal partners, I believe have been very effective over the past several years. I think Mardi Gras is a perfect example of that. We were able to ensure that the second weekend of Mardi Gras, which is of course the biggest weekend, was a Sier one event. And that brought in additional tactical resources, intelligence resources. There were things that were stopped before they could even happen. And so that is that's that's a critical partnership there. That's that's effective collaboration and coordination. And we had an incredibly safe Mardi Gras, which I was very proud to see. But then on the technology side, you know, seeing what's working in other departments and seeing what potentially could be implemented here, the drone program that they have in Jefferson Parish to assist in response times, you know, deploying a drone immediately to it could be a carjacking, a car burglary, so that immediately the drone gets there quickly and starts recording so that then officers know exactly who they're looking for and able to respond to the situation better is something that we are now working on implementing here in New Orleans, first through a pilot program in the French quarter and then expanding that over to the 7th district in New Orleans East. So so it's just different, it's it's so different, Jeff, from when I was a reporter and just like policing was different in the city to where it is now. You know, I mean it's just it so I've seen kind of the evolution NOPD to where it is now, and it is a much improved and advanced department for sure.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

How do you think through you mentioned the drone program, sort of balancing the things that these new technologies can bring, especially as you mentioned, New Orleans is a place that had 1,600 officers 20 years ago and has 900 now? So you have so many fewer officers, these technologies can really bring a lot to the table and matching that gap. They also bring surveillance questions, they bring civil liberties questions. How do you balance those competing ideas?

SPEAKER_01 15:11

And that's really around delving in and getting a lot of information about the technology. Like, explain to me how it will be used, how is it used in other cities, and on the drone program specifically, because there there were a lot of questions about surveillance. Like, is this just another way to like surveil people? But once I receive the information of how NOPD would be utilizing it, how Jefferson Parish has been utilizing, that literally the drone is deployed to the area. And once it gets there, it starts recording. So there aren't just, we're not just deploying drones just to go and just watch, you know, it's about specific response to an ongoing, already dangerous situation. That's where the drone is going. And once the drone hits that site, that's when they start recording. And so, really, it's about getting as much information as possible about the technology, getting as much information from our NOPD about the very specific use of the technology, and then from that point on making a decision on whether or not it uh it aligns with my views on what is really necessary as far as crime fighting in New Orleans.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

You also mentioned the consent decree, and and I think that this is such a critical issue because I agree with you completely that the city has seen dramatic changes in how the department has operated over the last what 15 years since it was first implemented. Obviously, that has gone away now. So, how do you sustain that, not just while you're mayor, but ideally setting it up so that for the next 50 years or 100 years or however long the city is is here is that lasts?

SPEAKER_01 16:45

So the NOPD always had, I think like 11 monitors who worked on the consent decree. So these were folks working inside the NOPD. And the consent decree is gone, and we don't need the interaction with the court and the DOJ. We did keep five or six of those monitors still in-house just to monitor and ensure that there is constant compliance with all of the major advancements that we made, that there is no backsliding. You still need, for lack of a better term, kind of that auditing team within NOPD to make sure that there is no backsliding. And I think that that's gonna be the important piece to constantly have that level of oversight, to constantly have that level of auditing to continue to make improvements and not go backwards just because we're not in a consent decree.

SPEAKER_00 17:36

New Orleans has has seen dramatic drops in crime over the last few years. I mean, I remember when when you were in city council and the horrible days of 2022, and not only 2022.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Oh my gosh, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 17:49

And you know, record high murder, response times through the roof, just horrific tragedy after horrific tragedy sent it felt like to now where we're having the lowest murder rate since the 70s. Um first question is sort of what you've had a front row view of all of this and have driven a lot of this. What do you attribute for this dramatic decline?

SPEAKER_01 18:10

So you kind of broke up a little bit there, but I think you were talking about what do I attribute to the dramatic decline in in crime here in the city? And and really predominantly, Jeff, it's around violent crime in the city. So I think it's it's both a real investment in prevention and also, as I mentioned before, the real key partnerships that NOPD has with our state and federal partners. So it's both prevention and policing and an effective combination of both. I think that's the that's the real formula. You can't just be about just policing your way out of this. You have to also work on the prevention piece. So during my time on the city council, especially uh right around 2022, we started to make significant investment on boosting our summer jobs program. They only had like 250 slots, something like that. We boosted it to 2,000 slots, really making heavy investment on partnering with organizations who were already working on crime prevention measures or working on youth and recreational opportunities. And so once we started seeing that investment along with the work of our health department with some of the violence intervention that they were doing and grants that they were receiving and working with the violence interrupters, so it's that really that whole combination. And then uh Chief Kirkpatrick really started to lean in on work with specific task forces to go after the most violent offenders in the city and identify who are the top violent offenders, go after them, go arrest them. And then plus, you know, I also have to give credit to Troop NOLA. Troop NOLA here in the city of New Orleans, I do believe has made a major impact here in the city. And one of the things that I'm working on this legislative session is to find that recurring revenue stream to keep Troop NOLA here permanently. The city of New Orleans puts in about$2 million a year towards supporting Troop Nola. Obviously, with the general fund issues that we have, I'd like to find, you know, some kind of revenue stream coming from potentially one of our tourism entities like the convention center, maybe uh take a little piece of a food and beverage tax, you know, and steer that toward keeping Troop Nola here in the city of New Orleans.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

Is there a way? I mean, I know that obviously from a political standpoint, uh most of the politicians in New Orleans could not be more different than the politicians in the State House in Baton Rouge. Is there a way to sort of sustain that cooperation going forward?

SPEAKER_01 20:33

Look, I mean, as a former legislator, yes, there is always this New Orleans, not against the world, but New Orleans against Louisiana, you know? I mean, like everyone's everyone coming at New Orleans, you know? But at the at the same time, you know, the the New Orleans argument is like, what would Louisiana be without New Orleans, right? And we are such a revenue generator for the state of Louisiana as a whole. So what I've always tried to do is find ways to work across party lines and still deliver for the city. And that's kind of the approach that that I have now and that I've put on my delegation. You know, let's find a way to work together, get things done. Right before I got on your podcast, the governor was calling me. We had to work through some things. I had to tell him of the intent of one of the pieces of legislation that I have and why I need to make sure that he's, I don't necessarily need his like rah-rah, but I also don't need, you know, him to try to block it because it's about advancing New Orleans, moving New Orleans forward in our infrastructure, particularly around sewage and waterboard, with about the bill that he and I talked about. So there there have to be these conversations and we have to find a path to work together. It's one of those things that's like we're stuck with each other, right? And I want what's best for the city of New Orleans, and I'll and I'll find the right way to work with those that maybe I'm not politically aligned with to ensure that we still get results for our city.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

Have you given thoughts? I'm sure you have. What are your thoughts about how we sort of sustain the progress that we've seen, not just in the consent decree, but across The entirety of sort of the criminal justice landscape over the last few years. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Well, you know, I I think a lot of it has to do with what I talked about before as far as a department with the auditing piece of it. But, you know, the other piece too is really uh those who are in leadership positions standing firm, you know, to make sure that there isn't that level of backsliding. But while we've made progress, Jeff, I can tell you that there's still more progress to be made. I I still see some issues that we have with our criminal justice system just not moving fast enough. Like there always there's always room for things to be more efficient, to, to work faster, but you also hear it from those who are going through the process in the criminal justice system of how timely, you know, things can be. So there's always room for improvement and progress. So, yes, while we have come a long way, there is definitely room for additional things to improve. And on the NOPD side, Jeff, you and I talk about this all the time, and we have for years. We still need improvement when it comes to sexual assault cases, sexual assault cases and the clearance rates around sexual assault cases. I I will always continue to talk about this, and and this is not just an NOPD issue, this is across the criminal justice system, is that still domestic violence is not treated with the severity that it should and the urgency that it should across the board. Uh I've talked about this for the past, I don't know, now like 15 years. I've been constantly, you know, talking about this, ringing the bell. Like it's just it's infuriating sometimes of how dismissive uh some in the criminal justice system continue to be, not just in New Orleans, but across the state and really across the country of domestic violence cases.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

Are there specific ways that we can do better to address this? I think we've we've talked about the the rate clearance rate is like 7% in New Orleans or something like that. How how can we make these things or help to solve these things?

SPEAKER_01 23:56

Yeah, I think part of it, and I've talked to Chief Ann about this, has to do with how can you be more responsive first to victims. And we talked about this, Jeff, I think this was when the response times were like really, really bad. We talked about deploying social workers to the non-emergency sexual assault cases. So when a victim would call, just so that your viewing audience understands, when a victim would call and say, let's say she was sexually assaulted last night, and she would call, well, there is not a specific emergency right now anymore. She is safe, and therefore it would take police hours to sometimes in extreme cases days for police to actually show up at to to try to help the victim. So oftentimes in situations like this, the victim would no longer even be around or just, you know, kind of put their hands up and it's like, never mind, which is terrible because this is a significant serious violent crime that has occurred, a serious felony that has occurred. And so we talked then deploying social workers to those non-emergency types of cases so that the victim could then be advised of steps she needed to take to ensure that a forensic medical exam could be conducted. So then if she would want to press charges, that evidence would be preserved. And preserving that evidence to our best of our ability is one of the main ways I still believe that we can solve more cases. So if you have more victims who are given the right information, have someone there who is able to support them, tell them that they need to go to UMC hospital to get their forensic medical exam, explain to them the steps that need to be taken. I think that those types of measures can go a long way. And so once again, though, it's making that that that adjustment within NOPD to allow for social workers to do that. And I know that Chief is open to it, but I also know that she's dealing with a variety of other types of initiatives that she's working on as well. And and bringing more things in-house as well. Like, you know, we have On-Scene Services, which has a it's a company that responds to non-major traffic accidents with without injuries. So the chief continues to look at how do we start to bring in those types of services in-house? Uh, one, she believes you can probably manage them better, and there's also cost savings. So she continues to find ways. What Chief Harrison started under the Landru administration, find ways to bring in civilian employees to help with overall responses to a variety of different crimes.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

And are there sort of, as you look at these things, are there completely unique challenges to public safety and fighting crime in New Orleans compared to all of your other mayors? And are there other ways on the other end that you're like, oh, every city's dealing with this? I can learn from other mayors.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

So an ever and every city is dealing with this situation, is the recruitment piece. Every city is is dealing with, you know, having trouble attracting officers just based on the fact that that people aren't flocking to this profession like they did many years ago. So that's something that every city faces. And that is something where I look to other cities and suggest to Chief Ann, I'm like, hey, maybe take a look at what some of these other cities are doing. So that's one aspect. But then on where we are so unique is that, you know, we're we're a little city. We're we're a little city with, you know, roughly 350,000 people. Like we're a little, little place, but we attract so many people into our little city, millions of people to our little city. So one of the things that our NOPD is phenomenally known for is how to handle major events with hundreds of thousands of people and to do that several times a year. It would be hard for a police department anywhere in this country to handle one or two events like that a year. And we have them consistently. I mean, we're now planning for French Quarter Fest. That's that's literally right around the corner, which will bring thousands and thousands of people just to one area of town, the riverfront and the French Quarter area. So that's something that they do exceptionally well. And then I'll also say they have one very unique feature that is also very celebrated across the country for how well they do their job. And that's our mounted division. You know, our mounted division has been around for a really long time, and they are an exceptional equestrian group, and they are very well trained, and the I've I've seen them personally have to deal with very difficult situations, and the level of talent there is phenomenal. Just the other day when we were, I guess not other day, all the days are coming together now because it's now a while ago, but as we closed out, as we closed out Mardi Gras, walking down Bourbon Street, and you have all the horses in front of you. Obviously, you've got the crowds clearing other crowds, but then you had people who were like popping, you know, the confetti cannons and everything. The way that they handled their horses, the way they handled the crowd with such a level of skill is truly phenomenal. There are others who have kind of these, you know, more temporary or every once in a while mounted divisions. Our mounted division is year-round. These officers are specifically for mounted. And so that takes a real level of skill. And I know that that is something that is celebrated by other departments across the country of how good we are here.

SPEAKER_00 29:40

And as the question was coming out, I know if you ask a New Orleanian what makes them unique, you're gonna like it's the softball question that's gonna get a thousand different answers.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

Yes, exactly.

unknown 29:49

Yeah, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 29:51

Mart Mardi Gras, for anyone listening who has not been, is it is amazing how every year you have this just mass of people. There's there's alcohol, people are throwing things into the crowds, and it just it just sort of happens every year, and it and that it happens safely is such a testament, I think, to all the hard work of the city government. So yes, um, certainly, certainly congrats on that for a successful Mardi Gras that I know my kids loved most recently. Um good. So looking forward, do you see any any new public safety challenges, any issues? Are you you know, are you sort of thinking that at some point the murder drop will stop, the the crime drop will level out, and we need to be prepared for that? Or is this just uh we're gonna keep going on and and keep doing what's working?

SPEAKER_01 30:36

I think if we're gonna continue to to make strides, we have to continue our investment on prevention. And I do worry about the fact that, you know, there seems to be kind of this reduction in grants on the federal level for kind of public health-related grants. And obviously, our health department and some of these initiatives that we fund around prevention are federally funded. So that is that is a concern. And because we need to continue these initiatives on the prevention side. On the policing side, to continue to make strides, I do believe we have to constantly keep moving the needle on solving cases and then also on response times. And so that's why on the response times, if if we don't have, you know, more police officers coming in in droves, well, what can we do to think differently around response times? Which is why I think the bringing on civilians, I think is so critical, and also the technology piece. So to continue to make progress, you have to continue just to think outside the box to solve these issues. And so I do appreciate Chief Kirkpatrick and my deputy mayor, former police chief Harrison, thinking that way. And and I will say this, you know, I am beyond grateful and and just beyond excited to have two major law enforcement professionals who are are really known across the nation for their work, and Chief Harrison and Chief Kirkpatrick now both working for the city of New Orleans. To have one ensuring that city government is supporting the NOPD with the assets that it needs, and that you have Chief Kirkpatrick who is running the operations, the NOPD, those two experts working for the city, I think will take us a long way. And and particularly for thinking of new ways to continue to make progress. Because you're right, if we just keep just here, you're gonna start backsliding. You have to constantly be thinking ahead and like what potentially, you know, could we do to just start chipping away at issues that are still persisting? And I do believe that the that Chief Kirkpatrick, our NOPD chief, does have a great leadership team that thinks that way too. So that's important.

SPEAKER_00 32:54

And you mentioned technology, sort of my last big question. I've been asking, started to ask all of my guests this, but how does AI, and I guess this is a two-parter, how does AI change how we approach criminal justice and crime and public safety? And then also, how would AI, are you all thinking about how it changes how you do your job as mayor?

SPEAKER_01 33:12

Yeah. Yes. So the the AI discussion is almost daily here at City Hall, which is kind of interesting considering that we are so behind the times at City Hall when it comes to IT. I think we're like on Windows 93. I say that as a joke, but that just gives your viewers the example of just how far off. How just how behind the times we are. So, yes, you know, we're looking at AI in a variety of different ways on everything from helping our city attorney's office with public records requests to looking at AI into permitting, which is a real way that cities across the country are finding some real progress on expediting permits and implementing AI systems into permitting. And the law enforcement piece and public safety piece, I do think that, you know, potentially it could be useful. I do know that even on the number of public record requests that the NOPD gets, certainly AI could help with all of those administrative things, you know, but ultimately, you know, technology is something that is coming fast at us. And what I do worry about AI, particularly when you're talking about, you know, our our criminal justice system, is as you're implementing potential AI solutions, is to ensure that you're also protecting privacy. And so that's kind of like the key piece that as they as they look at different improvements, that that piece is always like top of mind, uh, particularly around criminal justice.

SPEAKER_00 34:46

Absolutely. So what what is next for you?

SPEAKER_01 34:50

Well, what's next for me and and really my top priorities right now is ensuring that one, that we're a safe city. So ensuring that we have our our essential services really met here in our city. Jeff, you're from New Orleans, so that so you know that we've had kind of we have some work to do on our essential services, on getting our streets repaired and our lights on. So that's like my key priority now. And obviously, public safety is an essential service. So making sure we're safe and making sure that our infrastructure is much enhanced. So that's top priority, along with stabilizing the budget. And then from that point on, really building and building. But I do think that we are moving at a much faster pace than projected to get some of these issues solved. We even have some of our state leaders who thought it would take me four years to get some of these accomplishments done. Do you believe that I can get these things in a much better place in just one year in office? We work with urgency. My my team does. I said that I would come into this office knowing that I would not be perfect, but what I could guarantee the people of New Orleans is that I would work extremely hard for them every single day, and that every day I would push to move the ball forward. So that's that's really where I'm at, Jeff. You know, that's what's next for me is to just keep chipping away at the problems here in New Orleans and keep making New Orleans a more and more wonderful place. We have one of the most amazing cities, not just in this country, but in the world. And to your viewers who may not be from New Orleans, you need to come visit because this city is phenomenal, amazing, and it's only getting better.

SPEAKER_00 36:24

Absolutely. All right. Maybe Miranda, thank you so much for joining me. This has been terrific. I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 36:29

Thanks, Jeff, and I'm so glad you've got this podcast.

SPEAKER_00 36:32

Thank you. Yeah, everybody should listen.

SPEAKER_01 36:34

Yeah, everybody should listen. Thank you, Jeff. Have a great one.

SPEAKER_00 36:37

Thank you, you too. Thanks for listening to the Jeffalytics Podcast. Be sure to subscribe and to learn more, head on over to ahdatalytics.com for more information and previous episodes. If you like what you heard, please leave a glowing review, which will help others to discover the show. Until next time, I'm Jeff Asher.