"Crime numbers I think are a reflection of the fact that we have too few police officers to police the city and crime has been going up and the numbers of officers has been declining."
Rafael Goyaneche is angry. I've interrupted an afternoon between the head of the Metropolitan Crime Commission and his grandson. But he's cool; he knows I'm calling to get his opinion and an answer to some questions.
Between Thursday and Saturday there were six armed robberies, three of which were carjackings. Overnight Friday into Saturday there have been four shootings. As soon as I apprised him of the situation in New Orleans, I could hear the anger… and the frustration return to the timber of his voice.
I could've come up with a better first question, but I needed to know: "Has the New Orleans Police Department lost control of the streets?"
Goyaneche's response, "To say that they've lost control is to say they don't know what to do."
According to Goyaneche, NOPD knows what to do.
The problem is "They don't have the manpower to do everything that needs to be done to drive down the crime rate. So we're at critical mass when it comes to police manpower."
It's no secret NOPD is in the midst of a manpower shortage of its own making.
Only now, the shortage of available hands is becoming a factor in its inability to hold down the impression that crime is out of control.
"We're at an historical low—going back to 1978." Goyaneche explains. "And the numbers of police officers we have today, based on the trajectory that we're on right now, we'll have even fewer next year."
Goyaneche's frustration with the situation the Department is in is finally coming to a head.
Almost as if he's had enough, he launches forward with an unapologetic explanation of what needs to be done by City Hall with regard to the police.
"The way that we fix it… is… to give police raises," he says almost as if his teeth are clenched. "That will attract more recruits, and slow down retirement so it will allow the police to retain more veteran officers… Attract more rookie officers."
The lid is off. NOPD needs money. City Hall has to open the wallet and show they support the police in more ways than just verbally.
Right now the department is hovering somewhere above a thousand officers. The department needs at least one-third more.
Goyaneche says NOPD needs at least to staff up to more than 14-hundred to adequately field a full complement of officers.
Goyaneche says the department is in response mode, because they only have enough personnel to handle those types of calls.
As for other duties officers need to do, they just don't have the numbers to perform unless they take from one duty to perform another.