In the early hours of January 1, while partiers were busy celebrating the new year, Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a rented Ford F-150 Lightning down New Orleans’ famous Bourbon Street, killing 14 and injuring at least 35 before dying in a shootout with police. It was a horrifying attack that stunned the nation, but as it turns out, New Orleans officials had already been made aware of the risk of vehicular attacks in the French Quarter but failed to address them due to “politics and bickering,” CNN reports.
CNN obtained a full copy of a 2019 report by security consulting firm Interfor International that, among other things, “strongly” recommended the installation of bollards, saying the lack of security measures to prevent vehicular attacks needed to be fixed “immediately.” An abridged version of this report has been available publicly since at least 2020, but according to CNN, the public version left out Interfor’s concerns related to vehicular and other terrorist attacks. It also left out a lot of the allegations of infighting and dysfunction that Interfor made in the report:
Interfor International’s report – commissioned by the French Quarter Management District, or FQMD – identified “internecine politics and bickering” as “a significant hindrance to the good efforts by stakeholders” to address security in the district.
“Throughout Interfor’s time with the various players in the FQ, we were privy to palace intrigue and accusations of agendas, and we were repeatedly reminded of each group’s ‘red-lines’ lurking around the corner to immediately render any proposal or initiative dead in the water, no matter how insignificant in reality,” the report reads.
While traditionally outside the scope of a security assessment, “Interfor feels a responsibility to shine a light on this dynamic,” the report says. “Perhaps in facing this charge from an outside party, the stakeholders involved will be inspired to soften their stances and work towards a common goal, which, in truth, is shared by all.”
One individual, described in the report as a “prominent long-time New Orleans businessman,” was quoted as saying the merging of security was “a pipe dream,” adding, “they all hate each other.”
That sounds bad, but it’s especially damning considering that 14 people just died because of what sounds like a bunch of petty bullshit between a bunch of politicians who never matured past middle school. When CNN contacted the FQMD for a comment on the report, they said, “The strength of our ongoing partnership with the City and (the New Orleans Police Department) allows open communications of resident and business concerns and the results of any studies or reports completed.”
In an August 2020 statement, FQMD Board Chairman Christian Pendleton said the FQMD hired Interfor “because numerous law enforcement entities were working autonomously in the neighborhood” and that the report found “efficiencies that could be attained.” According to Interfor CEO Don Aviv, though, the firm never heard from the city after it submitted its report, and it isn’t clear if the city ever implemented any of the changes that it recommended.
The city was, however, in the process of improving the bollards and planned to officially unveil them for the Super Bowl that it will host next month. Except the bollards New Orleans was installing were only designed to stop vehicles traveling 10 mph, making them ineffective against a speeding truck or pretty much anyone who accidentally turned down the wrong street, Reuters reports. The same report claims the city had modeled a vehicular attack and found that cars could turn onto Bourbon Street going as fast as 70 mph:
Two of the Bourbon Street attack scenarios modeled by city-contracted engineers involved entering the street in a straight line, without turning, after building up speed.
The study found a 2015 F-150 could achieve speeds of 50 mph by accelerating from the stoplight across Canal Street, a wide boulevard with streetcar tracks in the median. The same vehicle could hit 70 mph entering from the opposite end of the section of Bourbon Street that is protected by bollards.
Jabbar drove a deadlier weapon than the truck used in the report’s scenarios – a newer F-150 Lightning, a much faster, heavier and quieter electric vehicle.
During major events such as New Year’s or Mardi Gras, the source said, city security plans call for parking large vehicles at the ends of Bourbon Street that are most vulnerable to high-speed vehicle attacks. But such measures, the person said, are not practical on a daily basis in the crowded tourist zone.
Sadly, unless the infighting that Interfor highlighted is dealt with, it’s unlikely that we’ll see New Orleans take steps to effectively address the security shortcomings that allowed such a devastating attack to take place. That said, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell did say Sunday that she plans to commission a study “to determine whether or not these bollards are sufficient.” So at least there’s that.
