Birthday 2022 to January 2023

First District Commander

This was the seventh district I’d been assigned to in my NOPD career. Not geographically, but by assignment. And unlike the Seventh District—where I showed up expecting a war zone—this one hit me in an entirely different way.

When Superintendent Shaun Ferguson called me into his office, I was surprised to see Deputy Chief Chris Goodly there too. He was over the police districts, so I figured this wasn’t going to be some quiet transfer to Records or the Evidence Room Basement of Doom. Nope. They gave me the First District. Most captains would be thrilled. I was too shocked to be thrilled. This was the top-level captain post—running a whole district. Once upon a time, district commanders even got more money for the extra stress. That went away, of course. Because why reward responsibility? Secretly?

Yeah—I was excited. But I’m not one of those captains who needs a district. We all make the same pay. And running a district is hard. Real hard. Now I had three patrol platoons, a 12-person detective unit, 2 sergeants, support staff, a fleet of vehicles, and a station building that was... not exactly thriving. (As of March 2024: still falling apart. Despite dozens of “building meetings.” But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.)

My #2: Lt. Raven Batiste

My executive officer—Lt. Raven Batiste—wasn’t exactly beloved in the district when I got there. But for me, she was exactly what I needed. She took care of manpower, community meetings, crime mapping, and she had a solid read on the street players. In May 2022, she was pulled to Special Operations Division, which didn’t shock me—Captain Lejon “Stick” Roberts, her former boss, had just taken over SOD. Raven had been his #2 in the First before I showed up. It made sense.

Now I had a tough choice to make. Two new lieutenants were being promoted, and I got to pick one to be my XO. On paper, this sounds like a privilege. In reality, it felt like picking between two best friends for who gets the last parachute. Chuck or Dean.   

Lt. Travis “Chuck” Ward and Lt. Dean Herrick were both top-tier. Big guys. Smart. Respected. Chuck had my old badge number—111—which made this even harder. Chuck had a strong tactical background. Dean had been in Homicide, and his personality meshed better with the detectives and support staff in the First. That was the deciding factor. I chose Dean. When I called Chuck to give him the news, I could barely speak. That kind of thing guts me. Thankfully, he ended up as second-in-command in another district, which helped take the sting out.

Private Conversations and Disciplinary Hearings

As a captain, you’re the judge and jury on internal discipline. I hated it. You sit across from officers—sometimes ones you’ve known for years—and you have to hand out punishment. Some made it easier by saying things like: “Hey, Cap. I know it’s not your fault.” That went a long way. But the other kind of “hearing” I came to value most were the unofficial ones.

My door was always open. Literally. I didn’t even have a key to my office. Officers—some I didn’t even know—would come in and close the door behind them. They’d tell me they were thinking of leaving the job, or talk about family problems, mental health, relationship stuff. Some cried. Some just needed a vent session. All left looking a little lighter. Those talks were the best part of being a commander.

The Councilmembers

The First District had a unique bonus: four different city councilmembers overlapped our area. That meant four times the emails, calls, complaints, invitations, and finger-pointing. But I was lucky—really lucky—with the group I had:

Eugene Green: NOPD’s #1 cheerleader. Every council meeting, he sang our praises. Deserves a plaque.
Freddy King: Had the Westbank, the Quarter, and part of Treme. Quiet guy. Cool. No problems.
Lesli Harris and Joe Giarrusso: Both became personal friends. Professional, smart, and supportive.

I've seen districts get councilmembers who made life miserable. I got the opposite.

The Shift Heard ’Round the Department

In June 2022, a mass exodus of officers forced a total schedule overhaul. Gone were the three shifts. We dropped to two 12-hour platoons. This was a massive shake-up. I had to personally divide the Evening Watch (Second Platoon) into Day and Night watches. You’d think it’d lead to chaos. It didn’t. In fact, most officers loved the new schedule.

Here’s why: Never worked more than three days in a row Every other weekend off Only 14 days worked out of 28 That’s a luxury in this line of work. They’re still using that schedule today. Did it improve response times or crime stats? Not really. But it gave officers breathing room, and that counts for a lot.

This chapter in my career wasn’t marked by wild car chases or hilarious pranks—but by the honor of being trusted with the job. And the unexpected impact of simply being the kind of leader who left his door open. More than anything, I got to be someone officers turned to—not because they had to, but because they wanted to. That’s enough for me.