The group that manages the Mercedes-Benz Superdome and the Smoothie King Center says it cannot get enough New Orleans police officers to cover big events, even with the help of State Police troopers and Orleans Parish deputies.

Now, officials with the arenas say they are being forced to hire outside of Orleans Parish.

“What it boils down to is we have to hire more policemen, we desperately need more policemen,” says Donovan Livaccari, the attorney for the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP).

The NOPD’s manpower issues are now becoming more than just the department’s problem.

“We have fallen short of our NOPD call, anywhere between 30 and 60 officers short of what we really need to do our best jobs,” says Alan Freeman, the General Manager of SMG.

SMG manages the Mercedes-Benz superdome, the Smoothie King Center and Champion Square, which includes hiring officers for games and big events.

Yet the group is routinely short-staffed and with construction around the arenas, they now need 40 more officers.

“I think the Superdome is a good assignment,” says Livaccari. “It’s a good detail and I think policemen want to be able to work the Superdome.”

However, Livaccari says officers are limited to working 16 hours a day because of the consent decree, which he says creates challenges when trying to cover shifts and details.

“A normal police officer’s shift is eight hours and 35 minutes, so if they have to work that and an eight hour tour at the Superdome for the Saints game then that puts them over that limit by 35 minutes,” says Livaccari.

SMG says it would much rather be using NOPD officers, but since they cannot get the officers they need to cover special events and games officials say they have now been granted tentative approval to go outside the parish to fulfill those needs.

“We are going to make this work, we have a responsibility to do so,” says Freeman. “Quite frankly, we would prefer to use a regular roster of police officers, officers that really know how our operation works here.”

“It’s a shame that they’ll have to consider hiring officers from other jurisdictions, but it’s a simple result of decisions made along the way regarding hiring in the police department,” says Livaccari.

Livaccari says that creates even more obstacles since those officers cannot legally enforce the law within the city without permission.

To help make more officers available, the FOP is recommending that officers be allowed to work 18 hours a day rather than 16.

In addition, the SMG says it’s increasing all officers pay by five dollars to better compete with other details.