The New Orleans Police Department is battling a formidable enemy that has infiltrated its headquarters: an army of rats that has begun feasting on drugs stored in the evidence room. That’s according to NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick, who told the City Council’s Criminal Justice Committee on Monday that the police department needs to relocate its facilities to a downtown high rise to escape the unbearable conditions. “The rats are eating our marijuana. They’re all high,” Kirkpatrick was quoted as saying by local media. In addition to their drug binge, she said the rats have left feces on desks, and cockroaches have moved in. “The uncleanliness is off the charts,” she said. Her disturbing testimony about conditions in the 1968 building came after the department spent years lobbying for a new location for its headquarters. On Monday, the City Council approved a motion to authorize a pending 10-year lease agreement that would see the department moved to the upper two floors of 1615 Poydras Tower in the center of the city.
