2 days ago
Public satisfaction grows for NOPD, but drops for Cantrell
The New Orleans Police Department continues to improve its public satisfaction rating, while Mayor LaToya Cantrell 's keeps dropping, according to a new community poll.
The big picture: NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick has the highest approval rating for an elected officials in the city, according to the survey from the New Orleans Crime Coalition.
The police department's satisfaction rate (31%) was the lowest it had been in more than a decade when Kirkpatrick started in 2023, according to the group's surveys.
It's now up to 47%, with a majority of surveyed residents (54%) saying they feel the city is safe.
Zoom in: 65% of respondents said they think the city is on the wrong track.
Approval ratings for Cantrell (27%, down from 31%) and Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson (18%, down from 32%) dropped this year.
City Council's stayed pretty much the same (47% this year and 48% last year).
The poll was taken after 10 inmates escaped from the Orleans Justice Center, which Hutson manages.
This is how public officials and agencies fared in the job approval survey:
Winners
Kirkpatrick (53% approval)
DA Jason Williams (51%)
NOPD (47%)
City Council (47%)
Losers
Sewerage & Water Board (79% disapproval)
Cantrell (62%)
Hutson (62%)
Meanwhile, New Orleans voters will elect a new mayor and sheriff this fall.
This poll has Michelle Woodfork in the lead for the sheriff's job and Helena Moreno leading in the mayor's race.
See our running list of mayoral candidates.
Zoom in: This is the 16th annual NOPD Citizen Satisfaction Survey from the New Orleans Crime Coalition.
The group says it started it in 2009 to highlight areas needing improvement and to encourage reforms within the department.
The Greater New Orleans Foundation, GNO Inc. and the Business Council of New Orleans and the River Region paid for this year's survey.
How it works: Faucheux Strategies conducted the phone survey from May 27 to June 4 to track key metrics related to residents' perceptions.
The poll surveyed a representative sample of 800 New Orleans adults and has a margin of error of 3.46%.
