Rats infesting the headquarters of the New Orleans Police Department are getting high by consuming confiscated marijuana, officials said at a city council meeting.
It is a symptom of the dilapidated condition of the police headquarters building, police officials said.
Proposals to give the department a new headquarters moved to consideration by the whole city council following a vote at the New Orleans City Council Criminal Justice Committee meeting Monday.
In the interim, New Orleans cops have to put up with dilapidated conditions inside their current space — including reefer-eating rodents.
“I want you to see the tray of all of the roaches, major rodents on the floor, the cockroaches, the rats eating our marijuana that are all high. Just the incredible fact that officers have nowhere to use a restroom,” New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said at the meeting.
Heating has also been a concern.
“We all know the facility is run-down. Last year, it was so hot we had to close the building. Sometimes it’s so cold that our offices and the rank at headquarters can’t even occupy the building,” New Orleans Council member Oliver Thomas told WDSU-TV.
One veteran of the force, speaking anonymously to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, pinned the blame for the building’s condition on Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.
“I don’t think it ever recovered from Katrina, to be honest,” he said. “The basement was full (of flood water). You get a lot of rodents that climb through the walls. Some things you just can’t get to, so there has always been some type of rodent, bugs, rats, mice, whatever,” the NOPD veteran said.
The current building dates to 1968, and the repair bill would run higher than what the city expects to pay in rent at the downtown building, which is across the street from the Caesars Superdome where the New Orleans Saints play.
Under the terms of the planned 10-year lease, the city would pay $7.6 million, according to reports.
Renovating the current headquarters would cost at least $30 million, said New Orleans Chief Administrative Officer Gilbert Montaño.
“The big-ticket items like a brand new air conditioner, brand new elevator, things of that nature rack up millions of dollars,” Mr. Montaño told WWL-TV.
About 400 NOPD staff would move to the new building, although things like interrogations and arrests would be done elsewhere.