AG to launch comprehensive review of New Orleans security plan after Bourbon Street attack: report

Louisiana’s top lawyer plans to open a full review of Sugar Bowl and New Year’s Eve security planning as concerns continue to grow over whether New Orleans officials could have done more to prevent the deadly attack on Bourbon Street that left 14 people dead and dozens more injured, according to a report.

NOLA.com reported that Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said she plans to make a formal announcement Monday regarding the full review, noting that New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick was committed to providing unreserved support and cooperation.

New Orleans residents and visitors are wondering why a temporary barrier intended to keep cars from entering Bourbon Street, where Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a truck through a New Year’s Eve crowd in the early morning hours of January 1, was installed instead of being lifted. , allowing the passage of vehicles.

The temporary metal barriers were installed on Bourbon Street and other areas of the French Quarter in mid-November, as the city was in the process of removing old bollards and replacing them with stainless steel bollards. This work was to continue until January.

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Official recommendations for New Orleans’ security measures in the French Quarter, part of a $2.3 billion infrastructure project launched in 2017, included installing new bollards on Bourbon Street for avoid mass casualty events that the FBI has identified as a potential threat in the French Quarter. popular tourist area.

Security recommendations for the area included street cameras, a central command center, better lighting and high-quality bollards that are also used by the U.S. government near its official buildings.

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Former FBI official Bill Daly, a security and risk management advisor, told Fox News Digital that the “Achilles heel” of the Jan. 1 tragedy was that the temporary measures used on New Year’s Eve did not offer the same level of protection as before. previously planned, designed and considered in the 2017 report.

“Temporary barricades are widely used. They’re used, for example, by the New York Police Department in Times Square, to close off all the side streets leading into Times Square,” Daly said.

He explained that in New York, authorities place cement blocks on the sidewalk and in the middle of the street as temporary barricades, and also use certain vehicles like garbage trucks and dump trucks to block the road.

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Along with the Murrill investigation, some city council members said they planned to conduct their own investigations into security measures in place the morning of the attack.

Murrill told NOLA.com that she has spoken with City Council member Helena Moreno, as well as District Attorney Jason Williams and other officials, adding that she plans to speak with other of its comprehensive security review projects.

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“Everyone is committed to having a full picture of what was and wasn’t done and, most importantly, what needs to change so we can prevent this from happening again,” she said.

Murrill’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the matter.

Audrey Conklin, Garrett Tenney and Ashley Papa of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.