New Orleans police force’s tough-on-crime transformation saved lives in New Year terror attack, says ex-city prosecutor
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NEW Orleans police's transformation in recent years helped prevent further bloodshed in Wednesday morning's horror terror attack, a former assistant district attorney has claimed. Rafael Goyeneche, a Louisiana native and president of the New Orleans Metropolitan Crime Commission (MCC), works opposite the Ceasars Superdome, just minutes from the French Quarter, where 14 people were killed in the early hours of 2025.
![[Cops rush toward the scene of danger as the New Orleans terror attack began]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/01/highly-trained-new-orleans-police-961137902.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Shamsud Din Jabbar, a Texas-born US Army veteran, drove a rented pickup truck through New Year's Eve revelers before he was killed by cops in a firefight. But in the wake of the horror, cops have been praised for their bravery as they rushed to the scene to take down Jabbar.
![[Shamsud Din Jabbar killed 14 after driving a pickup truck through New Year's Eve revelers]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/01/suspect-new-years-day-car-961102762.jpg?strip=all&w=727)
Goyeneche, who served as Assistant District Attorney in Orleans Parish between 1980 and 1986, believes that the police's quick actions saved many lives that night. Video from Wednesday morning shows officers running directly towards the site of the terror attack on Canal and Bourbon Street, after receiving a notification.
![[Former Assistant District Attorney for Orleans Parish Rafael Goyeneche, right]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/01/highly-trained-new-orleans-police-961138785.jpg?strip=all&w=500)
Speaking to The U.S. Sun, Goyeneche said that the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) had been transformed in recent years. "The NOPD has been under a federal consent degree since 2013," he said. "Over the past 12 years, the police department has gone from one that was dysfunctional and ineffective in combating crime externally in the community, to an organization that has gone through a complete culture change.".
![[Cops in place in downtown New Orleans]](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2025/01/u-s-military-walking-entrance-960982461.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
