Violent crime in N.O. takes a major hit
26th December 2018 · 0 Comments
Despite a number of high-profile incidents in the city, violent crime dropped significantly in New Orleans, according to the latest numbers released by the NOPD.
Those numbers show that homicides dropped by nine percent, shootings dropped by 30 percent, armed robberies dropped by 12 percent and the city was on pace to record the lowest murder total since 1971.
The number of victims of gun violence dropped significantly this year, with 431 victims 2017 and 284 victims as of Dec. 16.
NOPD Supt. Michael Harrison attributed the drop in violent crime to the departments use of the Real Time Crime Center implemented last fall, which utilizes a network of surveillance cameras, the NOPD’s TIGER initiative which targets violent repeat offenders and improved police-community relations.
The NOPD is in the midst of a 492-point, federally mandated consent decree aimed at bringing the police department up to federal standards for constitutional policing. It began implementing the consent decree in August 2013.
“Certainly it is a team effort. We certainly need the help of the police department to keep the violent criminal off the street,” Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro told FOX 8 News.
Cannizzaro believes the low violent crime rate is due to the NOPD’s hard work on the street and his office successfully prosecuting violent offenders.
“We were able to convict in jury trials over 90 percent of every defendant that went to trial on a murder case and with regard to the sexual assault cases, our total conviction rate was well into the 90s,” he said.
Cannizzaro said in the majority of sexual assault cases, DNA evidence was available, which helped prosecutors.
“We saw a significant conviction rate with regards to the violent criminals. We’ve kept people off the street that prevents them from going back out there and committing crimes again,” Cannizzaro said.
Cannizzaro said his office maintained a national conviction rate average despite two years of budget cuts and a loss of 42 experienced prosecutors.
The 2018 murder total reached 140 last Thursday with a killing in eastern New Orleans.
“What are we patting ourselves on the back for?” Al Mims, community activist, told The Louisiana Weekly. “That’s still too many murders, too much bloodshed.”
Mims, 65, lost his father to violence and says he worries every time his wife and son leave home.
“There is no method to this madness,” he said. “You can hand over everything to these young criminals and they will still kill you.”
“Those numbers are encouraging but there is still a lot of work to do,” the Rev. Raymond Brown, president of National Action Now, told The Louisiana Weekly last Tuesday. “There are still too many senseless shootings and people dying because [they] had a conflict with someone or they couldn’t find a decent job.
“We need conflict resolution, more Black men stepping up to be fathers, big brothers and mentors and a real job-training program that targets young Black men who were failed by the school system.”
Mims shared his thoughts about what it will take to turn things around and make substantive changes.
“We have to learn to look out for one another again,” he told The Louisiana Weekly. “We have to trust one another and come to realize that all we got is us. We can do better with each other.
we don’t change, there is no hope for us.”
This article originally published in the December 24, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
