New Orleans police superintendent responding to Bourbon Street attack is former Spokane police chief

The head of the New Orleans Police Department responding to the New Year’s Day attack on Bourbon Street once led Spokane’s police department through a consequential spell in the city’s history.
On Wednesday, a man identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, drove a pickup truck into a crowd of celebrators in the busy tourist destination, killing at least 15 and injuring dozens of others. The FBI is investigating the incident as “an act of terrorism” and does not think Jabbar acted alone.
Police shot and killed Jabbar at the scene, where he was also firing rounds at officers.
Anne Kirkpatrick, the New Orleans police superintendent since 2023, served as Spokane’s police chief from 2006 until January 2012.
Her time saw multiple internal troubles with personnel, and the legal saga surrounding the police killing of Otto Zehm lasted the duration of her tenure.
Months before she assumed her role in 2006, Spokane police officers beat, shocked and hog-tied Zehm. who was erroneously accused of stealing from a North Spokane convenience store. He died two days later, a federal jury in 2011 convicting first responding officer Karl F. Thompson Jr. of needlessly beating Zhem and lying about it.
In 2011, her last year as chief, city hall employees reported a backpack discovered to be a bomb on the route of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Unity March through downtown Spokane.
Spokane police rerouted the parade and detonated the bomb, preventing what could have been multiple casualties. Former Spokane City Council President Joe Shogan was in the parade in his last year as council president.
“She’s had vast prior experience in many situations, as far as I know under her time here. Her police department prevented that bomb from being detonated during that Martin Luther King Jr. parade,” Shogan said of Kirkpatrick.
Shogan’s time on council and Kirkpatrick’s time leading the police department overlapped. Through that time, Shogan said Kirkpatrick was consistently “professional” in her role.
“She was very professional here, she’s had other high-profile assignments since she left and I’m sure the investigation that she participates in will be through. It’s just a tragedy,” Shogan said.
Kirkpatrick also has training and teaching experience with the FBI, including graduating from the FBI national academy, the FBI National Executive Institute and the FBI’s Law Enforcement Executive Development School. She taught at the FBI’s Law Enforcement Executive Association.