New Orleans police facing 'catastrophic' officer shortage

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The city’s sense of security has been shaken. A recent survey by the Crime Coalition showed that the percentage of residents who feel safe dropped from 57 percent last year to 35 percent this year.

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PANO President Capt. Michael Glasser has been sounding the alarm on dwindling troop strength for months.

“Absolutely we're in a staffing crisis,” Glasser said. “We have a catastrophic shortfall.”

Since the beginning of 2020, the number of officers hired compared to those who left shows a trend going in the wrong direction. Records from the NOPD and Civil Service show 58 officers added last year, while 96 left, a net loss of 38 officers.

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The situation has grown worse this year, with 27 recruits hired, but 78 out the door, a loss of 51. That puts the force at about 1,100, with more than 100 at any one time on desk duty, out sick, in the academy or on military leave. That leaves the city more than 500 officers short of its longstanding goal of 1,600.

“It was 1,200 before all the pandemic stuff hit and it has gone down since then,” said Donovan Livaccari, attorney for the Fraternal Order of Police.

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Civil Service records obtained exclusively by WWL-TV show another alarming trend: Throughout the past 18 months, dozens of the officers who have left have less than six years on the force, many citing “better job” or “dissatisfaction” as the reason in their exit forms. That's alarming not just because of the number of officers lost, but because each one represents the loss of a fresh investment by the city of more than $60,000 for their hiring and training.

WWL-TV tracked down some of those officers who left and found that many did not leave law enforcement. They just took their NOPD training and went to work as cops in neighboring parishes.

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