City launches Alert System

Added: 2026-05-24

[00:00:00]Heat.

[00:00:04]Heat.

[00:00:30]alert and all of these alerts would be going out through our NOLA ready platform which as you all know operates around the clock. I do want to have uh some of the other partners speak today.

[00:00:42]There were a lot of partners and advocates who helped put this together.

[00:00:45]Uh I also want to recognize Satie Finkele who at the time when we put this motion together was my uh chief of staff and now she's working for CEO Jeruso who had a big part in in putting the criteria together. But the people who you will hear from today are New Orleans Police Deputy Superintendent Nicholas Gernan, New Orleans Director of Emergency Management Derek Hessen, executive director for the Autism Society of Greater New Orleans, Claire Tibbitz, United Kinjun, uh Navy Member John Gassanders, and then we'll hear from our city council members should they wish to speak. So with that, I'll turn it over to the deputy superintendent.

[00:01:22]>> Thank you.

[00:01:25]So Brian Vasquez's tragedy really forced us to look hard at where the gaps were in our system. And one of the things that I really appreciated about the mayor when she was on the city council and now in her time as mayor is that she doesn't just look for the gaps and move on. She looks for them to fill them in.

[00:01:42]Right? So our leadership really kind of met with each other really led by city fin to make sure that this was being done correctly to find those gaps and people stepped forward including members of the special victims division uh members of this administration members of the city council and our public safety partners to include the police and justice foundation crimes stopppers and the cinjun navy and they all worked to create just a better system so that we can fill in some of the issues that we identified during the vasquez investigation and so this ordinance kind uh coupled with this public dashboard will allow not only the NOPD to better track how we respond to these instances, but will allow the transparency for the public to also better track how NOPD responds to these instances because if we don't identify problems, we're not going to be able to work on them. We're not going to be able to solve them. So, this puts both the solution and future challenges front and center so that we know where we need to put more resources, more attention, and more problem solving abilities. And then finally, I think that this announcement really does recognize that this city is committed to improving systems so that we can improve the services for our community and the members of our public so that everybody can live in a safer New Orleans. Thank you, madam.

[00:02:58]>> Good afternoon, everyone. Over the past several months, our department has worked closely with the NOPD to support missing and endangered person alerts through the Nola Ready system. These alerts share critical information with the public in cases involving individuals at heightened risk and in need of urgent community awareness.

[00:03:17]These efforts reflect the importance of strong coordination between public safety agencies and the role timely communication can play during emergencies. Nosam will continue to support these notification efforts through Nola Ready as part of our broader mission to keep residents informed and connected during emergencies. We encourage residents to sign sign up for Nola Ready by texting Nola Ready to 77295.

[00:03:41]Thank you.

[00:03:48]I want to thank Mayor Marino and the city of New Orleans for working so quickly to create this dedicated alert system for disabled and vulnerable individuals who often do not qualify for Amber or Silver alerts. Wandering from safe locations presents a significant risk to the life and health of disabled and vulnerable individuals of all ages.

[00:04:08]For example, statistics show that 91% of deaths in autistic individuals under the age of 14 are due to drowning. Those deaths are preventable, and alert systems like this can make it easier to locate a missing individual more quickly, potentially locating them before they can end up in danger. Our organization knows firsthand how dangerous wandering can be and how it presents a significant source of stress and anxiety for the families who love and care for disabled individuals of all ages. When a person with a disability wanders off, especially near water or in unfamiliar surroundings, every minute counts. A faster response will save lives. This alert system presents a positive step forward for the safeguarding of vulnerable and disabled individuals in our community and will hopefully act as a model for similar systems statewide so that no matter where someone in Louisiana lives, they're eligible for an alert to allow the community to help locate them as soon as possible should they wander from safety.

[00:05:12]>> You were behind me.

[00:05:13]>> Public safety.

[00:05:15]>> Good afternoon. Uh, my name is John Gassanders. First and foremost, I'm a father, husband, New Orleans resident, homeowner. Um, and also a drone operator here in the city. Um, started my um, volunteering with the United Cajun Navy with the Brian Vazquez case. Um, I was credited with finding Brian day 11. I found him early in the morning, but it was hundreds of people that found Brian Vazquez. Hundreds of volunteers from churches that sent their congregations to walk through the streets, the Cinjun Navy sending our teams in, whether it be boats, dive teams, dog teams, but it was truly a community effort to bring Brian home. We didn't bring him home safely, and that was the problem. Time was against us. In terms of the Cinjun Navy, historically, our involvement with these types of cases isn't until we find out.

[00:06:08]And we don't find out until a family member reaches out, someone in the community, maybe we have a volunteer that lives in that community. But we can't help until we know. This alert system provides that instant information for myself, the Kinjun Navy, the community in general, because we need the community to come together during these moments. This is not on one single agency, law enforcement. When someone goes missing in our city, we all need to stop what we're doing. We all need to collect that information. Allow the organizations like myself to do the work we do. Allow the NOPD to do the great work that they do. But at the end of the day, missing person searches are always communitydriven.

[00:06:55]And this alert provides us that information to react again quickly. So, I thank Mayor Mayor Moreno. I thank Sadi for for her leadership on this. Um, but this is a proud day for New Orleans. I am a proud New New Orleian today because we are alongside Detroit. We are setting a national example and we are going to be a bright light as this gets deployed across our country nationally because no parent should ever lose their child. No grandson should ever lose their grandfather who might have Alzheimer's.

[00:07:30]We all need to do this better and we need to do it as a community. Thank you.

[00:07:38]>> You can tell a lot about a city the way it is concerned about those who are most vulnerable and those who have been the victims of various circumstances that were out of their control. So, it's with that that I express my pleasure as working with Mayor Moreno, who was then council member Moreno when she identified this initiative and the the time that she and Sadi have invested in making sure that we arrived at this point is a great example of why our city is an important city. Those individuals who are gathered behind me, who spend many, many, countless hours, many times quietly working with those people who we don't see. I appreciate their work, too.

[00:08:17]So just another reminder that we are moving in the right direction in many respects in New Orleans and Mayor Moreno to Satie Finkele, I thank you all for the work that you've done over these past few months and I know that there are a lot of more there are a lot more people in our city who are safer and as a father as somebody who works with a lot of young people and who works with a lot of elderly folks. I was the head of the council on aging for a while, the executive dire I'm sorry, the board of directors chairman and I saw a lot of instances of wandering, but it's just good to know that we have in place a system now that's going to be even more efficient in making sure that we reach out and we find and provide services to those who might be wandering as soon as we can. Thank you, Mayor.

[00:09:01]>> Well, Mayor Mareno, as a mother of sevenyear-old twins, thank you. Thank you for bringing this uh last year when you were a council member and thank you to Sadie Fininkle and everyone else that worked so hard to make this happen today. This is an important day where no child or no adult that has is vulnerable will have to be eliminated from this alert. We will now be able to help find people and kids will be saved because of these this new alert system today. So again, as as a mother, not as a council member. Thank you.

[00:09:39]>> All right. And just uh for uh launch purposes, I want to let you know that this officially uh officially goes online at 12:01 on Monday. So with that, I will take questions. I'm going to take here's how we'll do it. I'm going to take on topic questions and then I'll take off-topic questions. If you have off-topic questions for anyone else who who's up here with me, I ask that you wait until the news conference is over and take them off to the side. Okay. All right.

[00:10:09]>> Yes.

[00:10:16]>> Right.

[00:10:23]>> Sure.

[00:10:25]>> Well, it was a a really difficult time.

[00:10:28]Um, I actually uh went out to help with the search a couple of times. And one of the reasons why I went out there is due to the fact that uh there was a a a large number of Spanish-sp speakaking folks who were there. And as you know, I I speak Spanish and um and was able to translate some of the work that the NOPD was doing um as far as trying to to locate Brian. So it was a a really tough and very painful situation for uh that entire uh family and neighborhood and community and really the entire city felt the pain of this particular case.

[00:11:08]It was it was very agonizing. Um and obviously you know we all felt the frustration of the fact that all of the alarm bells weren't rung as soon as he went missing. And that's when, you know, I was asked by different groups, including the Autism Society, if if we could work on creating this type of alert system uh for vulnerable individuals, uh that that the Amber Alert or the Silver Alert wasn't currently catching. And so once again, I just want to um highlight the work of my office and and Satie Finkele for really digging deep and and doing that level of research to see what other cities potentially were doing. And that's when we found what Detroit had already done.

[00:11:51]So there was that model that then we could take their idea and build it for New Orleans. I don't mind borrowing good ideas here for our city. And so so really that's that's what we did. But but ultimately when you have um an Amber Alert, there's and I can have um uh the deputy superintendent talk more about those. There's very specific criteria for an Amber Alert. And if it doesn't meet those things, then the Amber Alert is not sent. And that is what happened with Brian's specific case.

[00:12:39]>> Well, this is for for individuals who are reported missing. So, they'd have to be reported missing and then meet the criteria that they're vulnerable and and and that they're missing and someone's reporting them missing.

[00:13:11]What's going to come?

[00:13:24]>> Um, you mean that if they happen to be Spanish speakaking? Yeah. Um, first of all, a reminder that we never ask, you know, uh, uh, anyone's immigration status, anything like that. If you are someone who is in need of help, that is what our priority is. So, if you are someone who is in need of help, uh, and you have someone who is a family member, a loved one who is missing, our New Orleans Police Department is going to be there to help you. And should the missing person meet the criteria that we talked about, then what will happen is a NOLA ready alert will go out that there is a Brian Brian's call, meaning that a vulnerable individual is missing and as much information as possible will be provided so that the community and the city can be alerted to be on the lookout for this person.

[00:14:18]possible that >> Matt Stone with the New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation. Um, so basically the every missing person once they're reported, it goes through the chain of command. It ends up at the Special Victims Unit led by this man right here.

[00:14:39]And then from there, the special victim's unit, um, Lieutenant Celius, Sergeant Badu, Sergeant Roger, uh, Detective Bravo, um, Detective Baldderas, they are phenomenal. They are the tip of the spear. They drop everything and they start putting the calls out. So, it'll go to NOL Ready, it comes to us, uh, if if they haven't been found in a certain time period. So, it's all very strategic. And then from there, we lay out the billboards. Lamar Billboard has been a phenomenal partner.

[00:15:06]um they drop everything 247 just like we do Christmas Day, New Year's Day um and and get these billboards up and running on the digital space that they have available. I don't want to speak out of turn um but they have contributed a great deal to this program. So that's the civilian side. Also, when we get that same alert, we put it out on social media. We also um put it out as a push alert on the Ring Neighborhood app. So all those things will go out simultaneously. So there's not a single medium that we miss that somebody can't possibly have seen this missing person or or child.

[00:15:43]>> Questions on >> topic.

[00:16:03]Yeah. Yeah. I mean, obviously, we're here due to the fact that we all recognize that the faster we alert community and we alert the city that we have a vulnerable person missing, the much better our chances are to find this person and to find them safe and bring them home. So, that's the sole purpose of this.

[00:16:27]All right. Any off topic?

[00:16:30]You who you want to start with?

[00:16:32]>> Okay.

[00:16:48]>> Look, I mean, bottom line, what I've always stated is that we need fair representation here in the state of Louisiana. And obviously fair representation means that we should have two majority minority uh seats here in the state of Louisiana. Obviously I'm disappointed that that is not the path that has been taken. Um I you know vocally have advocated for it. Uh obviously you've you've seen many uh leaders from across the state advocate for that as well. I certainly think that um that it is disappointing, but this is something that we're seeing track really all across the South and uh we're seeing it happen across the South because uh ultimately uh I believe that this is all about control of Congress and the more seats that you can eliminate on the Democratic side obviously the higher the chances are for the the House to remain a certain party. And so that's what this is this is all about. And uh and it's not just about Louisiana. It's all it's all across the South.

[00:17:57]>> Yeah. I actually posted a uh a pretty lengthy uh video on my social media that really expresses all my thoughts on this issue and uh it's pretty educational, too. But I would refer you back to that video.

[00:18:09]>> Yeah.

[00:18:11]>> Yeah.

[00:18:25]the legislation up in Baton Rouge is something that I've been pushing for due to the fact that we need better outcomes from the the sewage and water board. And what I've always said is that myself and the council members, we get blamed for the majority of the problems with the sewage and water board, but we have very little control over the sewage and water board. What the legislation will do will allow for the council and for the city to start to gain control around uh everything from infrastructure improvements to uh uh budgeting approvals to contracting approvals so that ultimately, in my opinion, we can get better outcomes. And this is one of the first steps that we would be taking to ultimately bringing the sewage and water board completely under uh city control should this process go over well.

[00:19:14]>> Um I haven't heard of any objections that he has. So, you know, we'll see.

[00:19:18]But I need to look at the bill to see if it's if it's is it when it passes or does it have a governor?

[00:19:22]>> It's just August one. It doesn't require a governor signature. Anybody else?

[00:19:28]>> All right. Thank you all so much. Have a safe Memorial Day weekend, guys.