Published at Open the Books Substack

After a man drove a truck into a crowd of people in New Orleans on New Year’s Day, leaving 14 dead, reporters asked police superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick why the city had not installed anti-vehicle barriers as a safety precaution.

Her response? The city had owned barriers since 2017, but Kirkpatrick “didn’t know” they existed. The barriers were installed around the crime scene on Jan. 2.

Kirkpatrick worked for the FBI, Chicago, Oakland, and five other cities before coming to New Orleans. She apparently didn’t believe she was required to know about her department’s inventory of anti-vehicle barriers, but she has collected $2.97 million from taxpayers since 2017, including salary and legal settlements.

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