‘They’re all high’: Rats are eating marijuana evidence at New Orleans police headquarters, chief says
NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — The chief of the New Orleans Police Department stunned members of the city council this week with a detail the committee hadn’t heard before: Rats have overrun the NOPD’s Evidence and Property Room, destroying evidence collected in drug busts.
“The rats are eating our marijuana,” said NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick. “They’re all high.”
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Kirkpatrick described the situation as an “infestation.”
“People shouldn’t have to come through their offices and see rodent drippings on their desk,” she said.
Kirkpatrick’s comments came during a criminal justice committee meeting on Monday, as the council moves forward on a plan to move the NOPD headquarters from its home of nearly 60 years on South Broad Street. The city plans to relocate the department into two floors of a downtown skyscraper across from the Superdome.
Kirkpatrick also said there are roaches and “heavy mold” in the current building, which she called a health issue.
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Beyond that, she said the building’s elevators and toilets are routinely out of service.
“In the end, it does not make sense for y’all to put any more money into [the current headquarters],” Kirkpatrick told the council.
“It’s not OK,” she said. “It’s not OK for your people to be treated that way and called valued.”
Council members are scheduled to hold a full vote regarding the new headquarters at a future meeting.
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