Cogratulations to the new NOPD chief

The Mayor picked an extremely crowded news day to introduce her selection to head the city's police department. You may have missed it.



Wait. Sorry, no, that is not him. Instead it is this guy.

(Shaun) Ferguson, 46, who had been seen as a rising star in NOPD by some observers, has served as a district commander at NOPD since 2014. Commanders, 16 of which are appointed “at will” by the NOPD superintendent, fall administratively just behind the three assistant superintendents and the superintendent. Ferguson currently serves as commander of the Education and Training Division, which oversees the academy. He has held the position for the last six months.

Recall that these "at will" commander positions came about as part of a Landrieu administration end run around Civil Service rules giving police supervisors (and potentially the mayor's office itself) more lattitude to make politcally-driven personnel decisons.  Just something to keep in mind.  The Chief of Police is a political appointment, anyway, so LaToya can do whatever she wants.  The only reason I wanted to bring it up here is it's probably a good bet that a new chief will be selected from the ranks of these commanders since the criteria by which they are chosen are similar.

The other significant fact about Ferguson is his most current role in Education and Training suggests he will have some experience dealing with the department's continuing struggles with constitutional compliance.  NOPD and the mayor are eager to be released from a federal consent decree imposed monitoring regime. and there is a steady drumbeat of reporting that the time for that is coming soon. Whether or not that means we can breathe easier that the police are less likely to harass, brutalize, or outright murder people is another question entirely.  For now let's just say this quote from PANO head Eric Hessler doesn't instill much confidence.

Hessler, whose organization has been critical of the consent decree’s sweeping mandates, said he thinks Ferguson shares some of his concerns, based on their interactions around officers facing discipline.

“I think he understands the problems that are facing the Police Department – and the problems that have been created by the consent decree,” he said. “I think he’s of the mindset that the department needs a little more autonomy to deal with very, very minor violations that simply clog the system up.”

Would love to see someone follow up with Ferguson about that. What is an example of something he might consider a "very, very minor violation"?