On Monday New Orleans Police Department interim Chief Michelle Woodfork said they are working hard to make sure they have as many officers on the street at possible.
The chief said in her first 100 days on the job there was a 10% drop in homicides, a 53% drop in carjackings and a 143% jump in auto-thefts.
Woodfork said NOPD has about 920 commissioned officers, with 150 recent new graduates. Her goal in the next six months is to get the number of officers to at least 1,200, which, she said, would help a lot with overall response times and getting crime under control.
Woodfork is from New Orleans and has been with NOPD for 32 years. Her interim term was recently extended by six months as the search for New Orleans’ next police chief continues.
Woodfork is the first female in the city’s history to hold the position and she said she intends to keep the title.
The Monday afternoon press conference followed a weekend that saw five shootings in a 24-hour span that sent nine people to hospitals across the city.
