NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Police Department is shifting responsibility for setting up vehicle barriers on Bourbon Street to the company that supplies them, following renewed concerns about whether the barriers provide adequate protection.
The steel barriers were installed earlier this year to prevent a repeat of the deadly New Year’s morning attack, when a driver rammed into crowds on Bourbon Street, killing 14 and injuring another 57 revelers. But videos in recent weeks have shown pedestrians easily pushing the barriers aside and even allowing cars to pass through, raising questions about whether the city is any safer.
WWL Louisiana used video surveillance provided by the privately operated ProjectNOLA crime camera network to show how commonly the barriers are moved after the NOPD deploys them to create a pedestrian-only promenade…