“Chief Anne Kirkpatrick is double-talking. She said she is ‘all-woman and this is her department’ but now she is cow-towing to Mayor LaToya Cantrell,” said Belden Batiste, community activist and declared candidate for mayor in 2025. Batiste was referring to Kirpatrick’s recent decision to put the brakes on promotions for key NOPD personnel. Kirpatrick admitted she halted the promotions at Cantrell’s request.
“LaToya only wanted the promotions canceled because two of the officers scheduled to become police majors were involved in the internal investigation of Jeffrey Vappie. We all know that LaToya is vicious and revengeful. Chief Kirkpatrick might have been scared of losing her job. But it’s not fair to hold hostage all the other officers who were also supposed to be promoted,” Batiste continued.
Kirkpatrick is now backpedaling in an effort to retool the process – and the outcomes – to satisfy Cantrell. PANO, the Police Association of New Orleans, and the Black Organization of Police have approached the city’s Civil Service Commission to investigate what they are labeling as political intrusion into a civil service process.
Jonathan Aronie, the lead federal monitor for the NOPD’s consent decree is expected to issue a report on the promotions’ debacle with an eye toward identifying any bias that might have taken place. “Aronie is sure to find bias in Cantrell’s action. Here’s just another reason that it is premature to end the consent decree.”
Batiste also points to who he calls “bad actors” in the NOPD’s sexual assault and domestic violence unit. Batiste alleges that the three NOPD officers – all females – assigned to the unit only selectively investigate complaints. He claims that eight women have brought a verifiable complaint against a well-connected New Orleans disc jockey suspected of infecting them with HIV. WDSU’s Shay O’Connor covered that story on August 6, praised the women for coming forward, but failed to identify the disc jockey by name. Batiste says the man in question is a close relative of a retired NOPD officer who previously worked in the unit.
“The officers currently assigned to investigating sexual assaults and domestic violence are not doing their jobs. These ladies sat on their hands and didn’t do anything because this man has police connections. Eight victims are being treated with disrespect. I believe the NOPD officers’ behavior is unacceptable,” Batiste declared emphatically.
Batiste also claims that former Superintendent Michelle Woodfork, now a high-ranking official with DA Jason Williams, is also biased in this case because of public statements she allegedly made in support of the unit’s officers. “Black women are being affected by this disc jockey’s behavior. It is disappointing that another Black woman would disparage them. If any of these cases were to end up in Criminal Court, they would already be tainted by Woodfork’s remarks,” Batiste concluded.
A series of community meetings are still being held to gather citizen input on the proposed wind-down of the federal consent decree.
