Investing in Safety: The Facts About the Millage Renewal

Investing in Safety: The Facts About the Millage Renewal

In this special episode, we’re taking you inside a powerful community conversation held at Franklin Avenue Baptist Church — where Sheriff Susan Hutson and members of our leadership team spoke directly with residents about the Safe and Strong Communities Millage Renewal. This millage is not a new tax. It’s a renewal that will appear on the May 3, 2025 ballot as Proposition 1, and it helps fund more than 20% of OPSO’s budget — supporting public safety operations, staffing, emergency response, and rehabilitation programs that make our city stronger and safer. This episode is about transparency, community, and making sure you have the facts before heading to the polls.

Chaos on Bourbon: First Responder Accounts from the January 1st Attack

The early hours of January 1st, 2025, marked a night of terror on Bourbon Street. A devastating attack left victims injured, bystanders in shock, and first responders in a race against time to restore order and provide aid. In this special episode of Sworn to Serve, we sit down with Detective Charles Morgan, who played a crucial role in rendering aid to victims in the immediate aftermath. We also hear from members of the OPSO Intake and Processing Team who were stationed at the mobile booking bus, processing arrests while the chaos unfolded just blocks away. Through their firsthand accounts, we’ll gain an inside look at the heroic efforts, the emotional toll, and the moments that defined that night. This episode will be raw, emotional, and eye-opening, revealing the unseen sacrifices and split-second decisions that define law enforcement in times of crisis.

Addressing Mental Health to Build Safer Communities

Mental health challenges affect every corner of our community, yet resources to address them remain insufficient. Sheriff Susan Hutson believes that by tackling the root causes of criminal behavior—such as untreated trauma, mental health struggles, and cycles of addiction—New Orleans can create a safer, more equitable future for everyone. In this episode of "Sworn to Serve," Sheriff Hutson and Dr. Corey Hebert will dive into the mental health crisis in New Orleans, its connection to crime, and the systemic failures that have left the Orleans Justice Center as the largest mental health provider in the city. Following the tragic terror attack on New Orleans on New Year’s Day, this discussion is more urgent than ever. Sheriff Hutson will share her personal connection to this issue through her brother’s battle with PTSD. Together, our guests will explore solutions that focus on community-centered mental health services, education, and economic opportunities as pathways to reducing crime.

Right to Education: "When you give kids the tools... they take advantage of it"

On this episode we are learning more about the school operating inside the Orleans Justice Center that is giving young people hope from behind bars. We hear from Byron Goodwin, Director of the Travis Hill School [https://www.travishillnola.org/], who shares about the school’s recent success locally and nationally, their partnership with OPSO and the work their doing in the community. OPSO is the only facility in the US that has a traditional high school.

Deputy on Duty: Navigating the Road to Compliance & to Mardi Gras

On this episode OPSO is getting ready to roll for Carnival season. As residents and visitors prepare to hit the parade routes, OPSO is finalizing the second annual Operation Mardi Gras plans to provide security along the routes. We hear from Major Silas Phipps, the Director of OPSO’s Compliance and Accountability Bureau who shares about supporting the agency's road to federal compliance. He also discusses managing the logistics for the large-scale Mardi Gras operation to welcome more than 200 officers and deputies from 18 different agencies to New Orleans to support with parade route security.