Let's (not) be cops (yet)

City Council, yesterday, deferred a vote on whether to approve the proposed "NOLA Patrol" not-cop initiative.

Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s plan to bolster law enforcement in the French Quarter with a new corps of uniformed civilians has divided the neighborhood into familiar factions, with resident groups largely in favor of the idea and Bourbon Street business owners pushing back.

The New Orleans City Council decided Thursday to defer voting on the plan until its next meeting but not before major French Quarter groups got a chance to weigh in on the proposal, dubbed “Nola Patrol.”

The idea is to put 50 unarmed recruits on the streets to enforce traffic, zoning and other rules, freeing up police officers to handle more serious violations and to respond to emergencies like the Bourbon Street shooting that rattled the neighborhood this summer.

Remember this was the plan by which the city wants to allow "neighborhood businesses" (read: downtown hotels) to privately fund their own quasi-police force. Because what could possibly go wrong with that? 

Ok calm down. They're unarmed which makes them slightly better than that "French Quarter Minutemen" idea  that one crazy person had. On the other hand, they're supposed to focus on "traffic, zoning and other rules," which makes them ten times more annoying.

Anyway, it's probably a good idea to defer this dress-up like cops idea until after Halloween is over. It also does this.

Andy Kopplin, the city’s chief administrative officer, said the council’s decision to push back a vote on the plan means the patrols may not be in place by Mardi Gras, as originally planned.

But, for the same reasons, that makes perfect sense too.