Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson on why she should remain in office

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — WGNO is your local election headquarters and we are talking to the candidates in the major upcoming Oct. 11 elections.

Good Morning New Orleans anchor LBJ took at look at the race for Orleans Parish Sheriff to ask Sheriff Susan Hutson why she should be re-elected.

LBJ: Sheriff Hutson, you served as independent police monitor, as an attorney and more importantly, your first term as sheriff. What has been the experience of what do you bring to this race from those roles that helps you to be the sheriff we need to have now?

“Well, first of all, I just want to say this. It is an honor to get to serve this city in any capacity. But when I came here as Independent Police Monitor, I came here because I saw a community that is engaged that wanted to see change after Katrina and wanted to see its government get better, and I wanted to be a part of that,” said Hutson.

LBJ: There are a number of issues that any large agency deals with. What do you consider to be the primary issue that needs attention right now that you’d like to address with the sheriff’s office?

“There are three things that threaten the sheriff’s office. Number one is funding, and that impacts our ability to fix things. We have our millages now. So, we’re working on fixing what’s broken in the jail. But I cannot unilaterally get a raise for our deputies, we don’t even have a pay plan for them. So funding, which threatens staffing and then the culture. We’re trying to get a different culture in this jail,” said Hutson.

Despite a term affected by several controversies, the incumbent Orleans Parish Sheriff is making a bid for re-election.

Watch LBJ’s full interview with Hutson

LBJ: No doubt the incidents of the May escape, the accidental release or wrong release of that inmate, as well as the cyber-attack of a couple of weeks ago. Those things will loom over this election. Is there anything that you looking back. Because hindsight’s always going to be 2020 here and we take that into consideration. Is there anything that you would see to do differently?

“Yeah. First I want to tell the community this. I am accountable for what goes on in this department at all times and I have to hold those accountable as well in this department that were a part of all those things. But I’m one of the most transparent sheriffs you’re going to ever see. The issue is communication. It’s not transparency. No sheriff in this country would have put out that video. I did it. There’s a lot of information I put out that others will not do. I put out about incidents in the jail. A lot more information. You know, more about this sheriff’s department in three years than you knew about another sheriff for 17 years. But the communication, this is a quick new cycle, it’s social media, it’s all these things. I haven’t been as quick on the draw with that. I do promise to make that better moving forward so that people will, know what’s going on. But May 16th was an intentional act,” said Hutson.

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