'The rats are eating our marijuana; they're all high': Infested New Orleans police evidence room becoming rodent cafeteria

New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick put the infestation problem plaguing the department in stark terms — particularly in regard to the evidence room that she said has become a kind of smorgasbord for rodents.

"The rats are eating our marijuana," Kirkpatrick said Monday at a City Council Criminal Justice Committee meeting, NOLA.com reported. "They're all high."

Besides consuming narcotics in the department's evidence room, she also said rodents have been scattering feces across desks, the outlet noted. Cockroaches also are making the rounds, NOLA said.

"It is not just at police headquarters. It is all the districts. The uncleanliness is off the charts," Kirkpatrick also said, according to the outlet. "The janitorial cleaning [team] deserves an award trying to clean what is uncleanable."

Other problems at the aging criminal justice complex near Orleans Avenue and North Broad Street include heavy mold as well as deteriorating HVAC units, elevators, and plumbing systems, NOLA added.

More from the outlet:

Kirkpatrick's assessment came as she lobbied to relocate department headquarters to a downtown high rise. The council is considering a 10-year lease on two upper floors of 1615 Poydras Tower, a temporary move while the department maps out future long-term housing, she said.

Kirkpatrick also said the department's overall condition likely is a "turn-off" to potential out-of-state transfers — not to mention for present employees, NOLA noted: "It's not OK, and it's not OK for people to be treated that way and be called valued."

A motion to authorize the pending lease agreement cleared the committee and goes next to a full council vote, the outlet said.

"I foresee most of the criminal justice agencies will have to be temporarily housed as we address these old decrepit buildings," Chief Administrative Officer Gilbert Montaño said, according to NOLA. "The Herculean lift of being able to move police headquarters was a challenge. There's a contemplation for the overall finalization of the campus, but right now we are addressing police headquarters because it is in dire straits."

The outlet reported that the city would pay total base rent of $7.6 million from its general fund over 10 years under the terms of the lease agreement.

"It's a good deal for the city to move here," Montaño also said, according to NOLA, given that repairing the present headquarters would cost three times as much.

'They're all high' | Rats eating marijuana, broken AC, roaches, plague NOPD headquartersyoutu.be

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