“Everyone knows how horribly January 1st started. But when I looked at the end-of-the-month stats, it really struck me how safe January was," commented Rafael Goyeneche, President of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, on the Newell Normand Show Thursday afternoon.
While the city is still very much grappling with the Bourbon Street terror attack, Goyeneche says New Orleans is headed in the right direction when it comes to crime reduction. And that’s according to the numbers.
Goyeneche broke down the January report which, shockingly, showed a strong decrease in a range of crimes.
“I asked my staff to go back and compare the last 11 Januarys all the way back to 2015, to see how January of 2025 ranked," said Goyeneche. "We compared it from a violent crime perspective and we prepared compared it to the property crime incidents going back 11 years. And what we saw was for January 2025, the aggregate violent crime rate was the lowest that we've seen in 11 years. And the same can be said of the property crime rate."
Goyeneche continues, “There were 49 major violent crime incidents reported in January of 25. This represents a 74% decrease over 2022's reported crime. January of this year compared to the previous low watermark (2019) for violent crime…which consists of homicides, non-fatal shootings, carjackings, and armed robberies… was a 30% decline in violent crime. So it's a testament to some of the things that law enforcement is doing right.”
What changed? Goyeneche explains the results are a continuation and enhancement of measures already in place, both for the NOPD and Louisiana State Police.
"What happened on January 1st made everybody reassess everything that they were doing," said Goyeneche. "Those numbers we amassed in January weren’t necessarily because the police department was doing anything wrong before that or changed anything significantly…They're using the same policies and procedures that have resulted in significant crime decreases over the past two years and we’re seeing that continue in the first month of 2025."
Goyeneche confirmed that the January numbers include the 14 that were killed at the Bourbon Street Terror attack. “Absolutely...We can't take that away. We left them in there...What happened on January the 1st will never be forgotten. But to put this in some perspective, there was nothing that law enforcement could have done to prevent it...What we've seen over the past two years is that law enforcement can do things and have done things that have brought down violent crime and property crime."