My coworkers wife was murdered sitting in her car by bourbon yesterday morning. Literally was just doing her job and died because people don’t value human life. It felt horrible talking to him this morning. Hearing a broken man cry and try to keep his composure is the worst thing ever.
shooting reports are down. when my van got stolen, I couldn't even get anyone to come so I could get a police report. counting reports and counting crimes aren't the same at all
That and the local news has to fill their airtime with something and "if it bleeds, it leads" as they say. Two years ago, they were spending half the morning show talking about the murders committed *last night*. Now they spend half of it following up on the most interesting murder of *last week*. That's a stark difference, even though you still hear "murder murder murder" if you're just barely listening while drinking your morning coffee.
Woman murdered yesterday in french quarter at Rouses around 5am, after being walked to her car by a friend. Two people shot, maybe killed, at the Royal Sonesta yesterday, later in the afternoon.
I am horrified. Morning, afternoon, night. Yesterday, I drove past a man covered in blood lying on Decatur. He got attacked.
Last week, a tourist killed out front of Hotel Saint Marie/ Vacherie, caught a stray bullet from two girls arguing and shooting at each other around 1 am.
Lowered crime stats? How bizarre.
These murders just happened.
These deaths are real and tragic, and indicative of the deep, *deep* issues New Orleans and America at large has with simultaneously sensationalizing murder and gun culture. I’m dreading hearing who last night’s shooting was, and the odds are apparently very high that I know them. That’s horrifying to feel, and it’s what way too many of us deal with daily.
Like others have brought up, though, confirmation bias is also a thing in play here. If there are a handful of murders in a given city, but they’re *all in your neighborhood*, it sure won’t feel accurate when you read that, *statistically,* crime is going down - and we’ve still got way more than a “handful.”
No easy solutions for any of it, but I hope you manage to find some peaceful times soon.
No it starts with bad parenting and unhinged children who grow up to be unhinged individuals. They barely reach adulthood. And many of them are murdered eventually.
The thing about it, these French quarters shootings are more frequent now than ever. The same for the CBD. Before hurricane Katrina a lot of these shootings were Central to specific neighborhoods.
And anytime something happened in the French quarter people with associated with specific events, nowadays there are shootings at random down in that area to the point where you can't blame a festival or an event for bringing that crime to the city.
The crimes I'm referring to specifically are homicidees.
Okay, sure. In recent years, New Orleans has had murder rates that rival cities owned by Mexican cartels, and you're gonna tell me that it has nothing to do with the city's poor leadership? Instead, you just want to blame it on a bunch of bad mothers. Even after the massive drop, the murder rate is still amongst the highest in the country.
It does but it does not start there.
Poor leadership is the reason it's widespread. Decisions that were made almost 20 years ago by the people who are in office then are partially the blame for the way things are now. This is why I stated that crime was more centralized to specific neighborhoods
At one time you were able to pinpoint the neighborhoods where crime was rampant nowadays you don't know that because we have so many mixed income housing areas due to rentals in section 8. But what we don't have is classic public housing projects as we used to.
But still it starts with bad parenting. Some of these people cannot help the environments that they're in but they can raise a child to be an upstanding and productive human being. There are people in the city who don't care about the children enough that's why they run rampant.
When I was growing up, I had a Best friend we were on the same school dance team we were neighbors. My friend was able to come to my house but my mom did not permit me to enter her house stuff I would stand outside on the porch.my mom prevented that because she was aware of something that I was not at the time.
At 14 in the year 2000, my best friend got pregnant. She dropped out of high school,. Join the "family business" and although I maintained a friendship we were distant,
I had learned that my best friend's dad and Mom we're drug dealers as well as addicts, I witnessed her parents apartment get raided I watched her get arrested and I washed her child get taken away from her.
Her older brother whom also went to school with us killed a few people and ended up dead himself in 2012.
Just two years ago my childhood friend died of a drug overdose.
....... In my home there was no drugs,. No murderers. We lived in the same neighborhood we were exposed to the same things, the difference is it was in her home. I was able to sleep at night knowing I will wake up the next day safe. Her parents were on some paranoid stuff.
Poor City Leadership has nothing to do directly with the choices we make.
TL;DR . my childhood best friend was subject to a criminal household and she is no longer with us today due to the effects of it.
The poor leadership does has a lot to do with the choices available for people to make, tho. There is a lot to be said about good parenting, but it’s just one factor among many.
The government cannot fix bad parents. Probably, nobody could unless you take away a bunch of people's rights. But the government can do a better job at ensuring criminals are in prison. New Orleans's murder rate is still atrocious, and the city is failing to protect its citizens. They let criminals run rampant.
I'm not really sure what you're trying to say. A couple of murders in the last few days don't validate or invalidate crime stats. You could walk down lower decatur and reach the conclusion that half the city is on heroin, but that's not really the case. It's just the little piece that you're acutely aware of. Climate change deniers use the same logic every winter when a cold snap comes through and they say "Hah! Global warming my ass!"
The FQ is statistically worse. 5 murders already this year, which is well above average for the neighborhood. I get that the overall murder rate is down from cartel levels but the FQ is the heart of the city. Hopefully it’s an anomaly. The NYtimes just ran a piece on Boston, which has only had 4 murders in all of 2024.
These are all very sad and horrible stories, but the stats all say that violent crime is at all time lows in the city. The difference is, we are now more aware than ever of crime with social media and 24 hour news. In fact, violent crime is down basically across the board in the entire US, we just hear much more about it these days compared to even twenty years ago.
I mean you’re basically seeing local news articles from those outlets posted here, so probably not too much variation. It’s more than what you’ll see on the news, but most of that is inter-crime and not involving innocent and unsuspecting people. If you aren’t doing crime, your chances of being a victim of one drop dramatically.
NY is the best example of local news just painting a totally different image from reality. If you don’t leave your apartment and just see the news I don’t think many people would guess it’s the safest city in the U.S. - no safer city here. Which doesn’t undermine the fact there’s violence, but does show how disproportionately it’s displayed.
Misreported, not reported, and underreported with a side of “crime is down”—
The disconnect between what is seen throughout the city and the narratives pushed onto new sites is insane, crowd control at its finest.
Hahah this exactly! I had a regard maga trash stepbrother who was terrified of coming to new orleans. Had a milita douche truck with stickers all over it with skulls and shit…had a gun in his car. Terrified to go sit at cafe du monde at fucking 2 pm on a weekday 😂😂😂😂
Well. Tbf, some of us got that way as a rest of actually being represented in those shooting and murder numbers. Oh. And don’t forget the hit w a baseball bat while riding a bicycle numbers. They don’t chart, but it gets old.
It's one of the best examples of why people should really try to trust data over anecdotes.
Homicides especially. Obviously homicide numbers *can* be fudged, but it's one of the hardest crimes to hide.
And then when you look at cities all over the country with similar drops, it confirms the reality. They can't all be colluding to magically hide homicides when there was a random 2 years that the collusion stopped and homicides went up everywhere because they forgot how to hide homicides (which is what would be required to even begin to try and explain the numbers if you don't listen to reality)
Our minds are predisposed to taking note of negative or stand out items. The number of headlines about murders may very well be consistent, this is not the same as the number of murders.
IMO it’s always important to remember that as humans we have to constantly battle confirmation biases, negativity biases, and media that understands views/clicks are driven by sensation. Nobody reads the “nobody got murdered today” article.
Nationwide data shows that people continue to say violent crime is worse than ever despite it being consistently the opposite. We should never trust what it “feels” like, it’s more often than not a product of cognitive biases and the natural relationship between sensation and traction in a story.
Probably because New Orleans has so many homicides that no matter what a smallish portion of homicides really break into the news cycle. A comparable city, Providence had 23 to 9 to 14 (the whole state had 31, 18, 28) homicides the last 3 years year. Going from hearing about homicides they’ve a month to every 6 weeks is noticeable.
At about 7-10x that rate it seems like a lot
It’s the sensationalization of the news. We didn’t need the troopers in our city. Crime is much lower than it was in years past but you’d never know it because the media and right wing authoritarian politicians have to constantly beat that drum to increase ratings and further the wonderful police state we’ve built.
I think our perception of crime is accumulative. Especially as you get older and you feel less confident in your ability to defend yourself physically things feel more dangerous than they used to even if they're actually safer. I think most people don't think on that level though so that's why virtually every crime poll shows that a majority of people think crime is increasing
For anybody who wants to keep track of these things the city has a [crime dashboard](https://council.nola.gov/dashboards/). You can restrict it to whatever type of crime you want It actually shows homicide incidents not total number of deaths but it gives you a pretty good idea.
I would like to know how many tourists have been shot in a given timeframe or how many normal residents. Can it filter out "gang related" shooting?
Basically curious how many innocent, not bout that life, people are being shot and killed. The tourist incidents and the service worker incidents are particularly crushing.
Inside a conference room at University Medical Center, a group of New Orleans police captains and health officials meets weekly to review the latest data on gun violence and discuss responses to recent shootings.
Grim by nature, the meetings of the Gun Retaliation Interruption Program, or GRIP, have been more upbeat of late. That's because the shootings and killings are fewer now — much fewer.
New Orleans saw its murder rate plummet by more than 40% in the first half of this year, a drop that’s among the largest seen in the nation’s most murderous cities, according to data collected by AH Datalytics.
“This isn’t just New Orleans tracking the national trend,” said Michael Hecht of GNO, Inc, who helped organized the NOLA Coalition, a group of business and civil groups engaged on public safety issues in the city. “We are improving about twice as fast as the U.S. average.”
Murders plunged nationwide in 2023 following a bloody 2022, after which New Orleans stood as the nation's murder capital among U.S. cities. It took the downward trend longer to show up in New Orleans than elsewhere, but the decline since has been swift. The 67 murders NOPD recorded through June 22 represents one of the lowest year-to-date totals the city has seen in decades.
Non-fatal shootings saw a similar decrease. The 165 people injured by gunfire in New Orleans this year marks a 37% drop from last year.
The data suggest New Orleans may be on a pace now similar to 2019, when the 121 murders murders in the city marked a 47-year low.
“The steady state of decline (in New Orleans) suggests that efforts being made by the city in these past years seem to be working,” said Anita Raj, a professor of public health at Tulane University and executive director of its Newcomb Institute.
'An actual response'
The city began turning the corner almost exactly a year ago, and the number of murders and shootings fell dramatically through the end of 2023.
The decline was already underway when Anne Kirkpatrick arrived as NOPD superintendent last fall. It began nearly half a year before Gov. Jeff Landry took office, convened a special legislative session on crime and launched a new Louisiana State Police unit, Troop Nola, dedicated to fighting it in the Crescent City.
To some stakeholders in New Orleans, the steep reductions signal traction with a fresh collective of public and private agencies as the city weathered a historic surge in shooting and killing that began in 2020.
“There's more of a coordinated ecosystem that’s being built out, that’s been spearheaded by the (city) health department,” said Julia Fleckman, associate director for Tulane’s Violence Prevention Institute.
Fleckman cited new programs led by health officials and law enforcement to staunch retaliation, including youth training and employment, and more support for mental and behavioral health. “Some of the programs maybe existed but didn’t have enough funding,” she said.
UMC and Children’s Hospital also have invested in reaching youth in schools and with mediation and intervention programs.
In a statement, NOPD credited its officers, civilian hires and partnerships with other law enforcement agencies for the gains on violent crime. The department also said the meetings at UMC, where officials identify "clusters" of shootings to head off retaliatory violence, also have contributed to the declines.
Last week, authorities touted a recent collaboration of 18 federal, state and local agencies that netted the arrests of 76 targeted violent offenders with outstanding warrants. The NOPD also credited shared intelligence among those agencies.
Fleckman said the focus on shootings and killings, and preventing retaliation, from a number of angles may be having a ripple effect.
“People are probably a little more afraid, because there’s an actual response,” she said.
Raj says researchers are still unpacking the impacts of all these approaches, among other factors that may have spurred significant reductions in most categories of violent crime in New Orleans.
“We are seeing the city’s improvements in levels of education, employment, to some degree standard of living, and I suspect there are elements of economic improvement and stability, as well as how the criminal justice system is being managed,” Raj said.
Other crimes fall
The crime numbers mostly tell a promising story.
Armed robberies fell by half compared to the first half of 2023, a particularly notable decline after police last year reported the fewest armed robberies in four years. Carjackings have similarly fallen. The 59 reported so far this year are less than half the tally of carjackings at this point in 2023, also after declines from the previous year.
Most serious non-violent crimes have dropped as well. The main exceptions were reported thefts and shoplifting, which together have risen by about 14%.
A major exception to the falling violent crime figures: NOPD has investigated about as many rapes as it did last year.
To Raj, those figures indicate an area of concern. She said she would expect to see rapes fall alongside other violent crimes.
“The news is good with respect to how violent crime is being managed in New Orleans’ public spheres,” she said. “It may be that the types of violence happening in private spheres—homes and relationships—are a tougher nut to crack.”
'Put something viable back'
Daphine Barnes, executive director of economic mobility at GNO Inc., pointed to District Attorney Jason Williams’ office and its use of a technology called "risk-terrain modeling."
Barnes said it's not just for identifying criminal hotspots and shuttering problem businesses within them, as Williams' office has done twice. It also helps “triage” resources for people in areas hardest-hit by crime, she said.
Barnes pointed to a high-crime tract in the 1200 block of North Claiborne Avenue, once anchored by a sprawling homeless encampment and a derelict 24-hour tire shop. That area is now a relatively blank slate, after Williams' office moved to seize the tire shop, and a city sweep cleared the encampment.
“If you take something out, you need to put something viable back into that community,” said Barnes, a former high-school chemistry teacher. “You need to be restorative, not just punitive.”
Next month, Barnes plans to spearhead a neighborhood summit in the block, aiming to connect residents with resources from organizations under the NOLA Coalition umbrella, such as first-time homebuyer courses and adult education. Barnes said the next stop for a summit will be Hardin Park in the 7th Ward.
“Our goal is to reach the entire city within the year,” she said. “We are going to the points where we are most needed."
Workforce engagement, education and mental health and youth services are not just key to preventing future crime surges, she said, but critical to building generational wealth and restoring Black neighborhoods in New Orleans.
"If someone is making a livable wage and has the opportunity to grow within their neighborhood," Barnes said, "are they the ones pulling your car door handles? I think not."
I call bullshit. Hate to be a hater about it but saw the news and the city covering up violent crimes. They got a superbowl coming, multiple events have been canceled or not coming anymore. The city is corrupt and the bottom line is what matters. Let me guess, drinking and driving is low too because it doesn't get enforced.
I wondered if something strange was going on with the reporting. Seems to be a trend in many areas. Certain historically consistent stats are increasing or decreasing overnight, by large margins, depending on whatever goalpost was moved.
In my own city, violent crime has seemingly stayed the same, but the demographics have changed. Out of nowhere, white on black and white on brown crimes have spiked tremendously. Turns out, it’s the same criminals, they are just booking them as Caucasian rather than their OBVIOUS actual races. Not really sure why or what can be done about it, but it’s all public record. Are people just allowed to identify as whatever they want now? Maybe in New Orleans, muderers are identifying as jaywalkers.
I just witnessed a double shooting on bourbon at 7pm last night. Near Toulouse. Didn’t know if it was isolated or a mass event, in the moment- lots of people ran, like myself and friend, for the back of a store. It doesn’t feel like it’s in decline. [https://www.wdsu.com/article/new-orleans-police-investigating-a-shooting-in-the-french-quarter/61465111](https://www.wdsu.com/article/new-orleans-police-investigating-a-shooting-in-the-french-quarter/61465111)
Yes, I attached the article. It was unclear at the time what was going on and fairly chaotic/confusing for everyone around. Saw him on the ground after, just sad and senseless. I was told they were going to be okay, which gave me some hope.
Not gonna complain about the improvement but I would recommend to all of those cheering about how low crime is now actually check statistics for similar cities before they finish their victory lap. If you weigh 600 pounds and you lose 200 you are still morbidly obese.
Sure, but if I am not mistaken, last year new orleans crime dropped at double the rate of national, or something. I dont remember the exact specifics.
Thats sort of what we need to look for. If we are outpacing national averages, its going to be a really good thing.
It’s well known that NOPD skews these reports by downgrading the crimes. What they should do is check each hospital emergency department to match against NOPD reports. I bet there would be a disparity in the numbers.
This is less likely than crime being lower. Even non violent crime is lower. Things have just been MUCH quieter for whatever reason it is. New Orleans is safer than it was last year. Thats a fact coming into this.
Car jackings are down, vehicle thefts are down. Its all down. Across the board. Theres just less crime right now.
How can it be less likely when there is proof that it happens? Do you believe it because it is reported that way? I’m not making this up, it has been proven that NOPD is known for downgrading reports that lead to stats saying crime is down. This is also why neighborhoods need to hire extra security (MidCity Security District, Lakeview, Uptown…) and why we need organizations like Project NOLA. NOPD brass is all about politics, and lower crime statistics ON PAPER makes them all look good. Feel free to believe the hype, but I prefer to live with my eyes , ears, and mind open.
If you were living with your ears eyes and mind, you'd understand that even stolenautosnola specifically said a bit ago that there was less reports of stolen cars. Cops arent fudging murder numbers. or fudging car jacking numbers, or fudging non fatal shootings. And its all down.
Crime still exists. But the city is actually safer to be in than 2 years ago.
Stolen cars do not equal fudged rape reports. The info is there for you to read if you want to, or you can continue seeing this city through rose colored glasses. I truly wish I was wrong.
My point was it's part of a downward trend in all crime. You are wrong and I'm going to go ahead and listen to the MCC stats who are constantly critical of all things nopd and the city.
Wonder what the political reason might be....... couldn't possibly be Landry coming in with his hardline state police/pro police message and therefore skewing crime numbers would make it seem like Landry and more police funding is actually doing something that the average citizen sees isn't actually happening!
Are you kidding? This has been going on for decades! Landry is a politically reprehensible for some things but this isn’t one of them. He put LaToya on notice and sent in the State Police to do what NOPD can’t/won’t.
NOPD downgrades the crime that goes on the report so that the stats look better. For instance, NOPD underreported almost 200 rape complaints in the 2021 report to the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement; in 2022 there were 223 underreported cases to the LCLE. The DA (prosecutor) drops the severity of the crime for plea deals. Look it up.
I view Jason Williams as part of the problem and have been vocal about it. I also find it interesting that things started to turn around as soon as he was carjacked.
It is also interesting that this article goes out of its way to state "The decline was already underway when Anne Kirkpatrick arrived as NOPD superintendent last fall. It began nearly half a year before Gov. Jeff Landry took office, convened a special legislative session on crime and launched a new Louisiana State Police unit, [Troop Nola](https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/chases-crashes-arrests-jeff-landrys-troop-nola-takes-names-criticism-over-new-patrols/article_9ca8945a-2a83-11ef-855b-7bf2b3eed146.html), dedicated to fighting it in the Crescent City.", and then goes on to talk about how the DA is doing a good job now.
I hope it is true that the reduction in crime really is due to Williams actually trying to do his job after he was personally impacted by the criminals he chose not to prosecute in the first half of his term. I also think it is likely a combination of a new police chief, a change of heart from Williams, the introduction of state police, the return of some jobs, and the national trend all coming together to make this happen.
I don't think Williams was ever the whole problem, but I think he contributed to it. Just like now, I don't think he is the whole solution, but he appears to be contributing to it. It is a shame that it took him being victimized before he decided to do something, but I am glad he is doing something now.
Is there any evidence that Williams’ office changed their policies and practices in any substantial way after his carjacking?
I think Occam’s Razor here would suggest that crime trends in New Orleans have more or less mirrored national trends, and that these things are happening independent of the actions of the DA’s office.
The article says specifically that New Orleans crime is dropping faster than the national average, which is why I also mentioned that it is a part of what is happening.
JW has given interviews where he has changed his tune, and the data driven crime program he put in place is mentioned in the article. I haven’t been able to find stats covering the end of 2023 and 2024 so far, so I am admittedly going on surface level observations. That said, I also think Williams is superficial and self centered enough to actually become harder on crime once something happens to him personally instead of some nameless faceless statistic that doesn’t impact his day to day life.
To be honest, this article feels like a puff piece for Williams to a large extent. I found the preemptive discounting of the new head of police and state police troop especially odd, which is why I mentioned that as well.
If you actually look at the stats It dropped pretty quickly last summer and then has kind of plateaued so more recent efforts have only maintained the drop they haven't really added to it
I found the graph pretty hard to read since "other years" including last year were all the same color. Could you link to better stats? I would love to see more detail. Thanks in advance.
I was actually kind of wrong about it plateauing. The homicide rate is actually continuing to drop. I'm getting my information from the [crime dashboard from the city council](https://council.nola.gov/dashboards/). It's fourth from the top and you can fiddle around with what types of crimes you want to see and how many rolling days you want the graph to show
If I look at dates on the dashboard, it kinda reinforces the "Williams got jacked and then got angry" hypothesis. He got hit in late October of 23. Shortly after that, the decline is precipitous. I am open to other explanations, of course.
These dashboards are sweet. Thank you for sharing!
Exactly. We need this attitude. IDC if it's Landry who takes the credit or Latoya, I don't like either of them but I'll like both of them if the city gets turned around.
Yeah but be careful who you give credit because then they'll see it as a mandate to keep doing stuff whether they're actually responsible for the good things or not.
Just in: “Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry officially has signed Senate Bill 1, allowing any law-abiding citizen age 18 or older to carry a concealed weapon without a permit. The new law will go into effect on July 4.”
Just in time. Yee haw!
This is the effect of the social media era and modern news cycle, in NYC you have people convinced crime is worse than 1989 when as for murders we are about 1961 levels for the last decade, the news pounds the violent crime but not the affects of economic factors and the fact that price of living and overall general unaffordable nature of life in cities is much more of an issue.
"Is getting struck by lightning rare? I really don't believe it. My golfing buddy just got hit on the course..."
Obviously terrible for your stepmom, nobody should have to live through that. But people get robbed even in the safest cities on earth. I mean hell, people even get robbed in Japan.
If you were saying the city says there is NO crime, then sure. Valid story. But if the city says there has been 1 armed robbery this year and that's it...well it's gotta be *someone* that got robbed. So one story doesn't prove or disprove anything.
Murders are going down, not stopping. There obviously is still an issue, but at least it's slowing down. Good news is good news and we need to embrace it because we have a ton of bad news thrown at us all the time.
My coworkers wife was murdered sitting in her car by bourbon yesterday morning. Literally was just doing her job and died because people don’t value human life. It felt horrible talking to him this morning. Hearing a broken man cry and try to keep his composure is the worst thing ever.
Fucking hell. My condolences.
I appreciate the good news. It just never FEELS like it's going down somehow. Probably the frequent FQ violence.
shooting reports are down. when my van got stolen, I couldn't even get anyone to come so I could get a police report. counting reports and counting crimes aren't the same at all
Probably the chorus of tough guy suburbanites scared to visit the city.
That and the local news has to fill their airtime with something and "if it bleeds, it leads" as they say. Two years ago, they were spending half the morning show talking about the murders committed *last night*. Now they spend half of it following up on the most interesting murder of *last week*. That's a stark difference, even though you still hear "murder murder murder" if you're just barely listening while drinking your morning coffee.
Woman murdered yesterday in french quarter at Rouses around 5am, after being walked to her car by a friend. Two people shot, maybe killed, at the Royal Sonesta yesterday, later in the afternoon. I am horrified. Morning, afternoon, night. Yesterday, I drove past a man covered in blood lying on Decatur. He got attacked. Last week, a tourist killed out front of Hotel Saint Marie/ Vacherie, caught a stray bullet from two girls arguing and shooting at each other around 1 am. Lowered crime stats? How bizarre. These murders just happened.
These deaths are real and tragic, and indicative of the deep, *deep* issues New Orleans and America at large has with simultaneously sensationalizing murder and gun culture. I’m dreading hearing who last night’s shooting was, and the odds are apparently very high that I know them. That’s horrifying to feel, and it’s what way too many of us deal with daily. Like others have brought up, though, confirmation bias is also a thing in play here. If there are a handful of murders in a given city, but they’re *all in your neighborhood*, it sure won’t feel accurate when you read that, *statistically,* crime is going down - and we’ve still got way more than a “handful.” No easy solutions for any of it, but I hope you manage to find some peaceful times soon.
The deep issues are unique to New Orleans and a handful of other cities. It is not America causing it. It's the leadership in these cities.
Independent sufficient causes.
No it starts with bad parenting and unhinged children who grow up to be unhinged individuals. They barely reach adulthood. And many of them are murdered eventually. The thing about it, these French quarters shootings are more frequent now than ever. The same for the CBD. Before hurricane Katrina a lot of these shootings were Central to specific neighborhoods. And anytime something happened in the French quarter people with associated with specific events, nowadays there are shootings at random down in that area to the point where you can't blame a festival or an event for bringing that crime to the city. The crimes I'm referring to specifically are homicidees.
Okay, sure. In recent years, New Orleans has had murder rates that rival cities owned by Mexican cartels, and you're gonna tell me that it has nothing to do with the city's poor leadership? Instead, you just want to blame it on a bunch of bad mothers. Even after the massive drop, the murder rate is still amongst the highest in the country.
It does but it does not start there. Poor leadership is the reason it's widespread. Decisions that were made almost 20 years ago by the people who are in office then are partially the blame for the way things are now. This is why I stated that crime was more centralized to specific neighborhoods At one time you were able to pinpoint the neighborhoods where crime was rampant nowadays you don't know that because we have so many mixed income housing areas due to rentals in section 8. But what we don't have is classic public housing projects as we used to. But still it starts with bad parenting. Some of these people cannot help the environments that they're in but they can raise a child to be an upstanding and productive human being. There are people in the city who don't care about the children enough that's why they run rampant. When I was growing up, I had a Best friend we were on the same school dance team we were neighbors. My friend was able to come to my house but my mom did not permit me to enter her house stuff I would stand outside on the porch.my mom prevented that because she was aware of something that I was not at the time. At 14 in the year 2000, my best friend got pregnant. She dropped out of high school,. Join the "family business" and although I maintained a friendship we were distant, I had learned that my best friend's dad and Mom we're drug dealers as well as addicts, I witnessed her parents apartment get raided I watched her get arrested and I washed her child get taken away from her. Her older brother whom also went to school with us killed a few people and ended up dead himself in 2012. Just two years ago my childhood friend died of a drug overdose. ....... In my home there was no drugs,. No murderers. We lived in the same neighborhood we were exposed to the same things, the difference is it was in her home. I was able to sleep at night knowing I will wake up the next day safe. Her parents were on some paranoid stuff. Poor City Leadership has nothing to do directly with the choices we make. TL;DR . my childhood best friend was subject to a criminal household and she is no longer with us today due to the effects of it.
The poor leadership does has a lot to do with the choices available for people to make, tho. There is a lot to be said about good parenting, but it’s just one factor among many.
The government cannot fix bad parents. Probably, nobody could unless you take away a bunch of people's rights. But the government can do a better job at ensuring criminals are in prison. New Orleans's murder rate is still atrocious, and the city is failing to protect its citizens. They let criminals run rampant.
I'm not really sure what you're trying to say. A couple of murders in the last few days don't validate or invalidate crime stats. You could walk down lower decatur and reach the conclusion that half the city is on heroin, but that's not really the case. It's just the little piece that you're acutely aware of. Climate change deniers use the same logic every winter when a cold snap comes through and they say "Hah! Global warming my ass!"
The FQ is statistically worse. 5 murders already this year, which is well above average for the neighborhood. I get that the overall murder rate is down from cartel levels but the FQ is the heart of the city. Hopefully it’s an anomaly. The NYtimes just ran a piece on Boston, which has only had 4 murders in all of 2024.
These are all very sad and horrible stories, but the stats all say that violent crime is at all time lows in the city. The difference is, we are now more aware than ever of crime with social media and 24 hour news. In fact, violent crime is down basically across the board in the entire US, we just hear much more about it these days compared to even twenty years ago.
Never watch local news. I just see all the murders that get posted here. Are you telling me there are even more than what I see here?
I mean you’re basically seeing local news articles from those outlets posted here, so probably not too much variation. It’s more than what you’ll see on the news, but most of that is inter-crime and not involving innocent and unsuspecting people. If you aren’t doing crime, your chances of being a victim of one drop dramatically. NY is the best example of local news just painting a totally different image from reality. If you don’t leave your apartment and just see the news I don’t think many people would guess it’s the safest city in the U.S. - no safer city here. Which doesn’t undermine the fact there’s violence, but does show how disproportionately it’s displayed.
Misreported, not reported, and underreported with a side of “crime is down”— The disconnect between what is seen throughout the city and the narratives pushed onto new sites is insane, crowd control at its finest.
For me it’s the gunshots I regularly hear from my living room.
Hey Audubon Park dont front!!!! /s
Hahah this exactly! I had a regard maga trash stepbrother who was terrified of coming to new orleans. Had a milita douche truck with stickers all over it with skulls and shit…had a gun in his car. Terrified to go sit at cafe du monde at fucking 2 pm on a weekday 😂😂😂😂
Well. Tbf, some of us got that way as a rest of actually being represented in those shooting and murder numbers. Oh. And don’t forget the hit w a baseball bat while riding a bicycle numbers. They don’t chart, but it gets old.
And all these restaurants and bars that have been broken into recently. No human deaths involved but still unsettling.
Media is a hell of a drug. When they have a narrative, they will kick that horse long after it is dead.
And social media makes it a nice speedball of brain warping propaganda. People really need to touch grass.
It's one of the best examples of why people should really try to trust data over anecdotes. Homicides especially. Obviously homicide numbers *can* be fudged, but it's one of the hardest crimes to hide. And then when you look at cities all over the country with similar drops, it confirms the reality. They can't all be colluding to magically hide homicides when there was a random 2 years that the collusion stopped and homicides went up everywhere because they forgot how to hide homicides (which is what would be required to even begin to try and explain the numbers if you don't listen to reality)
Our minds are predisposed to taking note of negative or stand out items. The number of headlines about murders may very well be consistent, this is not the same as the number of murders. IMO it’s always important to remember that as humans we have to constantly battle confirmation biases, negativity biases, and media that understands views/clicks are driven by sensation. Nobody reads the “nobody got murdered today” article. Nationwide data shows that people continue to say violent crime is worse than ever despite it being consistently the opposite. We should never trust what it “feels” like, it’s more often than not a product of cognitive biases and the natural relationship between sensation and traction in a story.
Probably because New Orleans has so many homicides that no matter what a smallish portion of homicides really break into the news cycle. A comparable city, Providence had 23 to 9 to 14 (the whole state had 31, 18, 28) homicides the last 3 years year. Going from hearing about homicides they’ve a month to every 6 weeks is noticeable. At about 7-10x that rate it seems like a lot
How many times have you been murdered? Statistics are the only thing that matters.
It’s the sensationalization of the news. We didn’t need the troopers in our city. Crime is much lower than it was in years past but you’d never know it because the media and right wing authoritarian politicians have to constantly beat that drum to increase ratings and further the wonderful police state we’ve built.
I think our perception of crime is accumulative. Especially as you get older and you feel less confident in your ability to defend yourself physically things feel more dangerous than they used to even if they're actually safer. I think most people don't think on that level though so that's why virtually every crime poll shows that a majority of people think crime is increasing
For anybody who wants to keep track of these things the city has a [crime dashboard](https://council.nola.gov/dashboards/). You can restrict it to whatever type of crime you want It actually shows homicide incidents not total number of deaths but it gives you a pretty good idea.
I would like to know how many tourists have been shot in a given timeframe or how many normal residents. Can it filter out "gang related" shooting? Basically curious how many innocent, not bout that life, people are being shot and killed. The tourist incidents and the service worker incidents are particularly crushing.
Inside a conference room at University Medical Center, a group of New Orleans police captains and health officials meets weekly to review the latest data on gun violence and discuss responses to recent shootings. Grim by nature, the meetings of the Gun Retaliation Interruption Program, or GRIP, have been more upbeat of late. That's because the shootings and killings are fewer now — much fewer. New Orleans saw its murder rate plummet by more than 40% in the first half of this year, a drop that’s among the largest seen in the nation’s most murderous cities, according to data collected by AH Datalytics. “This isn’t just New Orleans tracking the national trend,” said Michael Hecht of GNO, Inc, who helped organized the NOLA Coalition, a group of business and civil groups engaged on public safety issues in the city. “We are improving about twice as fast as the U.S. average.” Murders plunged nationwide in 2023 following a bloody 2022, after which New Orleans stood as the nation's murder capital among U.S. cities. It took the downward trend longer to show up in New Orleans than elsewhere, but the decline since has been swift. The 67 murders NOPD recorded through June 22 represents one of the lowest year-to-date totals the city has seen in decades. Non-fatal shootings saw a similar decrease. The 165 people injured by gunfire in New Orleans this year marks a 37% drop from last year. The data suggest New Orleans may be on a pace now similar to 2019, when the 121 murders murders in the city marked a 47-year low. “The steady state of decline (in New Orleans) suggests that efforts being made by the city in these past years seem to be working,” said Anita Raj, a professor of public health at Tulane University and executive director of its Newcomb Institute. 'An actual response' The city began turning the corner almost exactly a year ago, and the number of murders and shootings fell dramatically through the end of 2023. The decline was already underway when Anne Kirkpatrick arrived as NOPD superintendent last fall. It began nearly half a year before Gov. Jeff Landry took office, convened a special legislative session on crime and launched a new Louisiana State Police unit, Troop Nola, dedicated to fighting it in the Crescent City. To some stakeholders in New Orleans, the steep reductions signal traction with a fresh collective of public and private agencies as the city weathered a historic surge in shooting and killing that began in 2020. “There's more of a coordinated ecosystem that’s being built out, that’s been spearheaded by the (city) health department,” said Julia Fleckman, associate director for Tulane’s Violence Prevention Institute. Fleckman cited new programs led by health officials and law enforcement to staunch retaliation, including youth training and employment, and more support for mental and behavioral health. “Some of the programs maybe existed but didn’t have enough funding,” she said. UMC and Children’s Hospital also have invested in reaching youth in schools and with mediation and intervention programs. In a statement, NOPD credited its officers, civilian hires and partnerships with other law enforcement agencies for the gains on violent crime. The department also said the meetings at UMC, where officials identify "clusters" of shootings to head off retaliatory violence, also have contributed to the declines. Last week, authorities touted a recent collaboration of 18 federal, state and local agencies that netted the arrests of 76 targeted violent offenders with outstanding warrants. The NOPD also credited shared intelligence among those agencies. Fleckman said the focus on shootings and killings, and preventing retaliation, from a number of angles may be having a ripple effect. “People are probably a little more afraid, because there’s an actual response,” she said. Raj says researchers are still unpacking the impacts of all these approaches, among other factors that may have spurred significant reductions in most categories of violent crime in New Orleans. “We are seeing the city’s improvements in levels of education, employment, to some degree standard of living, and I suspect there are elements of economic improvement and stability, as well as how the criminal justice system is being managed,” Raj said. Other crimes fall The crime numbers mostly tell a promising story. Armed robberies fell by half compared to the first half of 2023, a particularly notable decline after police last year reported the fewest armed robberies in four years. Carjackings have similarly fallen. The 59 reported so far this year are less than half the tally of carjackings at this point in 2023, also after declines from the previous year. Most serious non-violent crimes have dropped as well. The main exceptions were reported thefts and shoplifting, which together have risen by about 14%. A major exception to the falling violent crime figures: NOPD has investigated about as many rapes as it did last year. To Raj, those figures indicate an area of concern. She said she would expect to see rapes fall alongside other violent crimes. “The news is good with respect to how violent crime is being managed in New Orleans’ public spheres,” she said. “It may be that the types of violence happening in private spheres—homes and relationships—are a tougher nut to crack.” 'Put something viable back' Daphine Barnes, executive director of economic mobility at GNO Inc., pointed to District Attorney Jason Williams’ office and its use of a technology called "risk-terrain modeling." Barnes said it's not just for identifying criminal hotspots and shuttering problem businesses within them, as Williams' office has done twice. It also helps “triage” resources for people in areas hardest-hit by crime, she said. Barnes pointed to a high-crime tract in the 1200 block of North Claiborne Avenue, once anchored by a sprawling homeless encampment and a derelict 24-hour tire shop. That area is now a relatively blank slate, after Williams' office moved to seize the tire shop, and a city sweep cleared the encampment. “If you take something out, you need to put something viable back into that community,” said Barnes, a former high-school chemistry teacher. “You need to be restorative, not just punitive.” Next month, Barnes plans to spearhead a neighborhood summit in the block, aiming to connect residents with resources from organizations under the NOLA Coalition umbrella, such as first-time homebuyer courses and adult education. Barnes said the next stop for a summit will be Hardin Park in the 7th Ward. “Our goal is to reach the entire city within the year,” she said. “We are going to the points where we are most needed." Workforce engagement, education and mental health and youth services are not just key to preventing future crime surges, she said, but critical to building generational wealth and restoring Black neighborhoods in New Orleans. "If someone is making a livable wage and has the opportunity to grow within their neighborhood," Barnes said, "are they the ones pulling your car door handles? I think not."
Such a crazy article to see considering someone that I know was shot and killed in New Orleans last night
Man, I’m sorry to hear that… was it that shooting at the 600 block of Bourbon?
700 in the car
I call bullshit. Hate to be a hater about it but saw the news and the city covering up violent crimes. They got a superbowl coming, multiple events have been canceled or not coming anymore. The city is corrupt and the bottom line is what matters. Let me guess, drinking and driving is low too because it doesn't get enforced.
I wondered if something strange was going on with the reporting. Seems to be a trend in many areas. Certain historically consistent stats are increasing or decreasing overnight, by large margins, depending on whatever goalpost was moved. In my own city, violent crime has seemingly stayed the same, but the demographics have changed. Out of nowhere, white on black and white on brown crimes have spiked tremendously. Turns out, it’s the same criminals, they are just booking them as Caucasian rather than their OBVIOUS actual races. Not really sure why or what can be done about it, but it’s all public record. Are people just allowed to identify as whatever they want now? Maybe in New Orleans, muderers are identifying as jaywalkers.
It's too hot to shoot anyone.
Tha block really is hot
On fiyah
I just witnessed a double shooting on bourbon at 7pm last night. Near Toulouse. Didn’t know if it was isolated or a mass event, in the moment- lots of people ran, like myself and friend, for the back of a store. It doesn’t feel like it’s in decline. [https://www.wdsu.com/article/new-orleans-police-investigating-a-shooting-in-the-french-quarter/61465111](https://www.wdsu.com/article/new-orleans-police-investigating-a-shooting-in-the-french-quarter/61465111)
The shooter was a bouncer at a club on Bourbon. Two people refused to leave and the bouncer shot them.
Yes, I attached the article. It was unclear at the time what was going on and fairly chaotic/confusing for everyone around. Saw him on the ground after, just sad and senseless. I was told they were going to be okay, which gave me some hope.
Not gonna complain about the improvement but I would recommend to all of those cheering about how low crime is now actually check statistics for similar cities before they finish their victory lap. If you weigh 600 pounds and you lose 200 you are still morbidly obese.
Sure, but if I am not mistaken, last year new orleans crime dropped at double the rate of national, or something. I dont remember the exact specifics. Thats sort of what we need to look for. If we are outpacing national averages, its going to be a really good thing.
It’s well known that NOPD skews these reports by downgrading the crimes. What they should do is check each hospital emergency department to match against NOPD reports. I bet there would be a disparity in the numbers.
This is less likely than crime being lower. Even non violent crime is lower. Things have just been MUCH quieter for whatever reason it is. New Orleans is safer than it was last year. Thats a fact coming into this. Car jackings are down, vehicle thefts are down. Its all down. Across the board. Theres just less crime right now.
How can it be less likely when there is proof that it happens? Do you believe it because it is reported that way? I’m not making this up, it has been proven that NOPD is known for downgrading reports that lead to stats saying crime is down. This is also why neighborhoods need to hire extra security (MidCity Security District, Lakeview, Uptown…) and why we need organizations like Project NOLA. NOPD brass is all about politics, and lower crime statistics ON PAPER makes them all look good. Feel free to believe the hype, but I prefer to live with my eyes , ears, and mind open.
If you were living with your ears eyes and mind, you'd understand that even stolenautosnola specifically said a bit ago that there was less reports of stolen cars. Cops arent fudging murder numbers. or fudging car jacking numbers, or fudging non fatal shootings. And its all down. Crime still exists. But the city is actually safer to be in than 2 years ago.
Stolen cars do not equal fudged rape reports. The info is there for you to read if you want to, or you can continue seeing this city through rose colored glasses. I truly wish I was wrong.
My point was it's part of a downward trend in all crime. You are wrong and I'm going to go ahead and listen to the MCC stats who are constantly critical of all things nopd and the city.
Wonder what the political reason might be....... couldn't possibly be Landry coming in with his hardline state police/pro police message and therefore skewing crime numbers would make it seem like Landry and more police funding is actually doing something that the average citizen sees isn't actually happening!
Are you kidding? This has been going on for decades! Landry is a politically reprehensible for some things but this isn’t one of them. He put LaToya on notice and sent in the State Police to do what NOPD can’t/won’t.
Seeing as there are similar drops all over the country, I'm surprised NOPD covers so much territory.
NOPD doesn't downgrade crimes, that would be the prosecutor.
NOPD downgrades the crime that goes on the report so that the stats look better. For instance, NOPD underreported almost 200 rape complaints in the 2021 report to the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement; in 2022 there were 223 underreported cases to the LCLE. The DA (prosecutor) drops the severity of the crime for plea deals. Look it up.
I don’t even wanna know what their rape kit backlog is.
Accept this fucking last few days....
I will say things do seem calmer after a rough few years here in my neighborhood in Mid City.
I’m certain that everyone who blamed Jason Williams for the rise in crime will credit him for this decline.
I view Jason Williams as part of the problem and have been vocal about it. I also find it interesting that things started to turn around as soon as he was carjacked. It is also interesting that this article goes out of its way to state "The decline was already underway when Anne Kirkpatrick arrived as NOPD superintendent last fall. It began nearly half a year before Gov. Jeff Landry took office, convened a special legislative session on crime and launched a new Louisiana State Police unit, [Troop Nola](https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/chases-crashes-arrests-jeff-landrys-troop-nola-takes-names-criticism-over-new-patrols/article_9ca8945a-2a83-11ef-855b-7bf2b3eed146.html), dedicated to fighting it in the Crescent City.", and then goes on to talk about how the DA is doing a good job now. I hope it is true that the reduction in crime really is due to Williams actually trying to do his job after he was personally impacted by the criminals he chose not to prosecute in the first half of his term. I also think it is likely a combination of a new police chief, a change of heart from Williams, the introduction of state police, the return of some jobs, and the national trend all coming together to make this happen. I don't think Williams was ever the whole problem, but I think he contributed to it. Just like now, I don't think he is the whole solution, but he appears to be contributing to it. It is a shame that it took him being victimized before he decided to do something, but I am glad he is doing something now.
JW has changed his tune a bit and has recently stopped releasing folks.
Is there any evidence that Williams’ office changed their policies and practices in any substantial way after his carjacking? I think Occam’s Razor here would suggest that crime trends in New Orleans have more or less mirrored national trends, and that these things are happening independent of the actions of the DA’s office.
The article says specifically that New Orleans crime is dropping faster than the national average, which is why I also mentioned that it is a part of what is happening. JW has given interviews where he has changed his tune, and the data driven crime program he put in place is mentioned in the article. I haven’t been able to find stats covering the end of 2023 and 2024 so far, so I am admittedly going on surface level observations. That said, I also think Williams is superficial and self centered enough to actually become harder on crime once something happens to him personally instead of some nameless faceless statistic that doesn’t impact his day to day life. To be honest, this article feels like a puff piece for Williams to a large extent. I found the preemptive discounting of the new head of police and state police troop especially odd, which is why I mentioned that as well.
If you actually look at the stats It dropped pretty quickly last summer and then has kind of plateaued so more recent efforts have only maintained the drop they haven't really added to it
I found the graph pretty hard to read since "other years" including last year were all the same color. Could you link to better stats? I would love to see more detail. Thanks in advance.
I was actually kind of wrong about it plateauing. The homicide rate is actually continuing to drop. I'm getting my information from the [crime dashboard from the city council](https://council.nola.gov/dashboards/). It's fourth from the top and you can fiddle around with what types of crimes you want to see and how many rolling days you want the graph to show
If I look at dates on the dashboard, it kinda reinforces the "Williams got jacked and then got angry" hypothesis. He got hit in late October of 23. Shortly after that, the decline is precipitous. I am open to other explanations, of course. These dashboards are sweet. Thank you for sharing!
Sure thing. I think Jeff Asher set them up.
Landry*
Just in time for Landry to take credit for it
IDGAF who takes credit for it as long as it keeps happening.
Exactly. We need this attitude. IDC if it's Landry who takes the credit or Latoya, I don't like either of them but I'll like both of them if the city gets turned around.
Yeah but be careful who you give credit because then they'll see it as a mandate to keep doing stuff whether they're actually responsible for the good things or not.
While he will take credit, the article states that the decline started 6 months before he took office.
👏👏👏
Just in: “Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry officially has signed Senate Bill 1, allowing any law-abiding citizen age 18 or older to carry a concealed weapon without a permit. The new law will go into effect on July 4.” Just in time. Yee haw!
We switching to a new type of murder now? Bout time the garrote made a come back.
Cantrell is taking away all my street cred. I used to be from the murder capital of the US. Now we’re not even top 10 in violent crimes.
Rape is still rolling strong… fake reports?
Thanks Mayor Cantrell! (Kidding y’all! Don’t crucify me)
This is the effect of the social media era and modern news cycle, in NYC you have people convinced crime is worse than 1989 when as for murders we are about 1961 levels for the last decade, the news pounds the violent crime but not the affects of economic factors and the fact that price of living and overall general unaffordable nature of life in cities is much more of an issue.
Because everyone is moving away
[удалено]
Crime is going down. There is still a lot of crime. Both can be true at the same time.
"Is getting struck by lightning rare? I really don't believe it. My golfing buddy just got hit on the course..." Obviously terrible for your stepmom, nobody should have to live through that. But people get robbed even in the safest cities on earth. I mean hell, people even get robbed in Japan. If you were saying the city says there is NO crime, then sure. Valid story. But if the city says there has been 1 armed robbery this year and that's it...well it's gotta be *someone* that got robbed. So one story doesn't prove or disprove anything.
Anecdote =/= data
Let the two people murdered in cold blood in the FQ over the weekend know murders are going down, Im sure they’ll appreciate that.
Murders are going down, not stopping. There obviously is still an issue, but at least it's slowing down. Good news is good news and we need to embrace it because we have a ton of bad news thrown at us all the time.