By now, we’re all aware of the harrowing terrorist attack on New Orleans' iconic Bourbon St., where a vehicle was intentionally driven into a crowd, resulting in the tragic loss of 14 innocent lives and numerous injuries. The swift and brave actions of several New Orleans police officers prevented an even greater catastrophe. During the confrontation, two NOPD officers were wounded in the exchange of gunfire with the assailant, who ultimately died.

Within hours of this incident the media began focusing on how the suspect was able to easily drive around the police car used as a barricade to vehicular traffic on Bourbon St. It appears that even though the roadway was blocked, the sidewalks were not. That created space for the terrorist to simply drive around the car and speed down the street. In addition, the media quickly discovered that a federal intelligence alert warning of similar type attacks had been issued to police agencies a few weeks prior. This intensified the media focus on why the street had not been better secured.

New Orleans’ officials struggled to answer the media’s most pressing questions. This might have stemmed from legal counsel advising against admitting errors due to future litigation, or perhaps they were simply uncertain of the answers themselves. Regardless, the focus should remain on the fact that the lapses in security represent a preventable error. Through a comprehensive, non-blaming critical incident review, the root causes can be identified, rectified and avoided in the future.

This incident is the most recent high-profile example of preventable error in policing.

"Lone offenders have historically used simple tactics, such as edged weapons, firearms, or vehicle ramming, due to their ease of access, ability to inflict mass casualties, and lack of required training." As reported by ABC News on January 1, 2025, this is a quote from a Dec. 6, 2024 FBI, Department of Homeland Security and National Counterterrorism Center joint intel bulletin warning law enforcement about the ongoing serious threat posed by lone offenders during the winter holiday season The bulletin also noted that threat actors have "plotted and conducted attacks against holiday targets in previous years, with likely targets including public places with perceived lower levels of security holding large gatherings or holiday events and advised governments and law enforcement to remain vigilant of these threats."

Given that the New Orleans Police Department likely received this bulletin, there are several critical questions to be addressed in the coming weeks. These include: Was the bulletin disseminated throughout the organization? If not, why? What plans were created to protect high-risk areas like Bourbon Street on New Year's Eve based on this warning? How did the efforts to block Bourbon Street fail to account for the obvious vulnerability of sidewalk access to vehicles? Why weren't the Meridian Archer-like barriers, that were installed on Bourbon Street on January 2, used on New Year's Eve?

These questions should be just the starting point for understanding the dynamics of several avoidable errors connected to this tragic incident.

I have no interest in blaming the NOPD nor the officer(s) responsible for the preventable error of not adequately securing the Canal St. entrance to Bourbon St. Seeking blame for policing failures – which is different from accountability – serves no constructive purpose and minimizes the courage displayed by NOPD officers in stopping the terrorist.

Blame involves placing all responsibility for an outcome onto someone, whereas holding someone accountable acknowledges that their actions contributed to the result. Instead of assigning blame, it is more constructive to seek the root causes of this incident. By doing so, we can learn and adapt to prevent repeating these errors in the future.

We are all susceptible to preventable errors. They occur frequently in our personal lives. And there isn’t a cop alive who can say they haven’t been lucky when they’ve made serious mistakes. “There but for the grace of God go all of us” aptly describes the reality of daily life, especially in the unpredictable and dynamic world of policing.

It is incumbent on all police leaders to grasp and disseminate the lessons to be learned from the New Orleans incident. Somebody at the NOPD clearly understood that obstructing vehicular traffic on Bourbon St. was prudent. Overlooked was the obvious fact that there was enough room for a truck to simply drive around the barricades. This oversight occurred at both the individual level (the person responsible for setting up the barricades) and the organizational level (ensuring proper protocols were in place).

New Orleans is not alone in this; potential policing failures exist in every American city that holds public events. Therefore, leaders across the country should consider how they can prevent similar failures in their communities. They should also reflect on the possibility of this unsophisticated, low-tech, and easily executable form of terrorism occurring in their own cities.

Preventable error in policing has many causes. Organizational culture, leadership behavior, morale, complacency, the normalization of deviance, normalcy bias, confirmation bias, and groupthink are some of the contributing factors that can turn any event in a community into the most tragic day in its history. It’s overly simplistic to conclude that the New Orleans incident was simply the result of individual complacency. In other words, that an officer placed the police car on Bourbon St. and said, “that’s good enough.” A future critical incident review will likely identify numerous contributing factors, cascading decisions, or even a "failure of imagination" akin to what the 9/11 Commission Report cited as a factor in the 2001 terror attack on New York City.

At the Future Policing Institute, we will continue to examine the factors contributing to preventable error in policing in future posts and our upcoming podcasts. Fortunately, we now know enough about this phenomenon to counter it.

Informed police leaders can easily enact measures to ensure unacceptable outcomes are minimized. One simple method, for instance, is to designate someone as the “critical evaluator” to scrutinize plans or strategies and identify weaknesses. Alternatively, leaders can establish a "red team" tasked with simulating an attack on a particular venue. This team's role is to review the plans from a terrorist's perspective and pinpoint vulnerabilities that could be exploited. Their feedback would then serve to enhance and strengthen the existing planning efforts.

As I mentioned earlier, I am not blaming the dedicated and courageous officers of the NOPD, nor its leadership or the elected officials with oversight responsibilities. This tragic event could have occurred regardless of the precautions taken by the NOPD. Blame lies solely with the terrorist, whose intent was to cause maximum harm. Had he been denied access to Bourbon Street, he would have likely targeted another location. That said, the NOPD and the City of New Orleans had a duty to ensure the safety of the revelers on Bourbon Street. They now have an obligation to be transparent as they investigate how this incident unfolded.

I firmly believe that New Orleans will emerge stronger from this tragedy, and the NOPD will become a more responsive and effective organization. I’m certain the bravery and sacrifice exhibited by the NOPD officers will continue to inspire and be mirrored in various future situations.

By excusing errors, or trying to justify honest mistakes, policing misses the opportunity for an honest public discussion about the challenges it faces and how easily things can go wrong. Policing is incredibly difficult to get right. It’s often messy and sometimes hard to watch. But that’s the reality. If police leaders aren’t consistently candid with the public about the good, the bad, and the ugly of policing, the profession will continue to struggle with issues of public trust and confidence. Candor in policing promotes policing that is not only effective in safeguarding the public but also empathetic in community interactions and just in its treatment of the people it serves.

The world is becoming increasingly uncertain, and it is unlikely this trend will reverse anytime soon. Extremism is on the rise. Just hours after the incident in New Orleans, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department faced another extremist attack. This individual detonated a bomb in front of a Trump hotel in downtown Las Vegas using a rented Tesla Cybertruck.

Acts of terrorism involving vehicles are not new, and unfortunately, these won't be the last. More incidents are almost certain to follow. Now is the time to focus intently on preventing errors in policing events susceptible to terrorism. The principle, “If it’s predictable, it’s preventable,” should be a cornerstone of our nation’s public safety and anti-terrorism strategies.

Recognizing and acknowledging errors in policing and committing to transparent, non-blaming after-action reviews is a potent strategy for building trust. This approach enhances the legitimacy of the police and the public's confidence in their efforts. But perhaps more importantly, police leaders owe the unvarnished truth about preventable errors to the people they’re paid to protect. And unquestionably, they owe the truth to the courageous officers who daily, risk everything for their communities.

About the Author

Jim Bueermann is the president of the Future Policing Institute. He is a 45-year veteran of policing and is the retired president of the National Police Foundation (now the National Policing Institute) and a retired police chief from Redlands, CA. The opinions expressed here are his alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Fellows of the FPI.

Author’s Note

It’s apparent that I’m a strong advocate for policing’s embracing the concept of preventable error. I find it fascinating. I believe that once you really “get” this idea it’ll become a framework for viewing not only the errors in policing but the concepts you can use to improve your organization in a multitude of ways.

Preventable error is intrinsically linked to organizational development. Focusing on preventing error in policing also means one must focus on leadership development, organizational culture, systems leverage and connectedness, internal communications, reward systems and accountability measures, officer safety and wellness, etc. Doing so helps inoculate your organization against the challenges preventable error create.

Policing has yet to master the prevention of avoidable errors. Few organizations have anchored it to their cultures. Perhaps this is because cultural change is hard to implement and even harder to sustain after the change agent leader has moved on. Nonetheless, my hope is that soon, true error prevention will become an integral part of American policing. This will happen only if we have honest, non-blaming discussions about errors when they occur and focus on incorporating the lessons learned into the culture of policing.

To learn more about preventable error, check out the other articles in this section, and in our Resources section, and follow Gordon Graham. He is a retired California Highway Patrol Captain, an attorney, co-founder of Lexipol, and the nation’s leading expert on risk management and preventable errors in policing.

JB