In tapping Ronal Serpas to lead the New Orleans Police Department, Mayor Mitch Landrieu lauded the new top cop’s history of reducing crime, his community outreach efforts and knowledge of this city’s culture, reports the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Serpas, a former high-ranking New Orleans police administrator, has spent six years at the helm of the police force in Nashville. He is now tasked with transforming a troubled police force and quelling crime in one of the nation’s most murderous cities.Serpas, a 49-year-old New Orleans native and third-generation New Orleans police officer, will take over the department within a week. Because Nashville is mired in a state of emergency, drying out from deadly floodwaters that swamped the city this week, the city’s mayor asked Landrieu to allow for Serpas to see the disaster through. Serpas will earn $180,000, a slight bump from former Superintendent Warren Riley’s $177,000 salary. It is a pay cut for Serpas, who was making $195,000 in Nashville and was slated to make $205,000 come July. Coming back to New Orleans will likely mean a hefty increase in his pension, however.