Mardi Gras Wrap-up Series
NEW ORLEANS - 3-18-2022 By Anne McKinley
For the past 46 years -- since 1976 -- Chief Earl Weaver, Jr. has performed an important job at the most crowded intersection in the City of New Orleans, during the busiest part of the Carnival season: providing security to the Gallier Hall area during parades.
While the crowds push against the barricades and the City's elected officials make speeches from the stands, Chief Weaver and his team of Reserve Division officers ensure that nobody gets hurt during the hubbub and that people and parades can safely move through the area.
In 1973, Weaver joined the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office as a deputy, rising to the rank of sergeant in 1975. The next year, then Sgt. Weaver, was asked by Sheriff Charles Foti and Mayor Moon Landrieu to provide security for the Gallier Hall area, and the six viewing stands that stretch from Gallier Hall to Lee Circle, half a mile away.
Rising to the occasion, Sgt. Weaver and OPSO Reserve officers provided security to local dignitaries and the public alike, performing their duties so well that Mayor Moon Landrieu issued a Letter of Commendation to Sgt. Weaver and requested that they expand their assistance the next year.
Since that time, the OPSO Reserve Division, under the command of Chief Weaver, have proudly served the Gallier Hall security program, with at least 20 reserve officers volunteering from the start of the first parade to the end of the last parade. They work tirelessly to ensure the safety of all in the tightly packed area.
This year, to commemorate his long service, Chief Weaver was awarded the Key to the City by Mayor LaToya Cantrell, the seventh New Orleans mayor to receive protection from Chief Weaver and his officers. Stopping the parade, Mayor Cantrell called Chief Weaver from his place in the street to thank him for his long service.
Congratulations to Chief Earl Weaver and the hard-working members of the OPSO Reserve Division.
Photo by Commissioner Tenisha Stevens
Cheers all around for Chief Earl Weaver who received a Key to the City for decades of service at Gallier Hall and other Mardi Gras reviewing stands.