On Tuesday (May 8), Mayor LaToya Cantrell swore in Chief Michael Harrison as Superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD).
“I am challenging Chief Harrison to deliver the real results and the public safety the people of New Orleans deserve and demand. We have a heavy task ahead of us, and I am expecting him to rise to the challenge,” said Mayor LaToya Cantrell. “I am looking forward to supporting and working with him as Superintendent of Police for the Cantrell administration.”
Despite her campaign promise to launch a national search for the city’s police chief, Cantrell opted to continue with Harrison at the helm of the department. Harrison was appointed chief in October 2014 by former mayor Mitch Landrieu.
Chief Harrison joined the New Orleans Police Department in 1991 and advanced through the ranks of the department, becoming a detective in the Major Case Narcotics Section in 1995, promoted to sergeant in 1998, where he served in the Eighth Police District and then in the Public Integrity Bureau until 2006 when he was promoted to lieutenant, but continued to serve there until early 2009. In January, 2011, he was appointed to the position of commander, where he served as commander of the Special Investigations Division; managing the narcotics, vice, criminal intelligence and gang enforcement units of NOPD. In January 2012, he assumed command of the Seventh Police District, overseeing police services for eastern New Orleans.
Prior to joining the NOPD, Harrison served eight years with the Louisiana Air National Guard. He received a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Phoenix and a Master of Criminal Justice from Loyola University.
