Mayoral candidate John Georges is calling on Mitch Landrieu to apologize for comparing the New Orleans Police Department to Nazi stormtroopers.

While answering a question about community policing during the mayoral debate on WWL TV tonight, candidate Mitch Landrieu said police officers should be in communities meeting people, “not just as a Gestapo.”

The Gestapo were the State Secret Police during the reign of the Nazi Party in Germany in the 1930s and ’40s. They used brutality and intimidation to carry out the orders of Adolf Hitler, one of the most brutal dictators in history and the architect of the Holocaust.

“Referring to the men and women who protect us from crime every day with Nazi terminology is not just insulting, it’s unconscionable,” Georges said. “I am absolutely shocked that the second-highest ranking official in Louisiana would refer to law enforcement professionals with such a derogatory term.”

Georges said he will work with NOPD commanders and officers to ensure they have proper funding, strong leadership, and a solid relationship with citizens at a neighborhood level – not clip their wings. Georges also supports programs such as Cops and Clergy, which works in neighboring parishes.

“The answer to crime is not reining-in the men and women who are putting their lives on the line to protect and serve,” Georges said. “NOPD officers are not Nazis. They are dedicated public servants, and no one who seeks to lead this great City should ever use such language. How can we fight crime with a mayor who thinks the Police are our enemy? The officers of the NOPD and the citizens of New Orleans know better.”