The New Orleans Police Department's superintendent says is department is making strides in its fight against crime.
New Orleans Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson says the city also saw its lowest monthly rate of murders and non-fatal shootings so far this year in October.
"We had 16 murders in the month of October," Ferguson said. "This is the lowest amount of murders in a month for the entire year of 2022. We had 25 non-fatal shootings in the month of October, which is the lowest amount of non-fatal shooting incidents reported in the city of New Orleans per month this year."
He credits the NOPD's redeployment plan and partnerships with state and federal law enforcement for helping his officers get illegal guns and criminals off the streets.
"Improved collaborations with the NOPD, the district attorney's office, and the U. S. Attorney's Office have yielded great results," Ferguson told the New Orleans City Council. "Operation Golden Eagle, which is a collaboration of the Louisiana State Police (and) our federal partners at the FBI and ATF and DEA, we took as many as 94 guns off the streets this summer, resulting in four federal indictments thus far with more still pending."
The Metropolitan Crime Commission confirms the October violent crime reduction, but the MCC notes the homicide total is 144 percent higher than in 2019 and 36 percent higher than the same time last year. There have been at least 234 homicides so far in 2022 in New Orleans.
Ferguson acknowledges that the NOPD can't rest on the laurels of its recent successes.
"We are seeing results as a result of what we have implemented, but we acknowledge there's still much more work to be done, and we're willing to do that work."
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