Violent crime are up in New Orleans according to the President of the New Orleans Metropolitan Crime Commission Rafael Goyeneche.
“Homicides this year, as of yesterday, there were 111 in the city versus 80 in 2019 over the same period of time, “Goyeneche explaind to WWL First News.
“What you are seeing is that because there are fewer officers, and because there were problems with the district taskforce units that were conducting proactive policing, the superintendent was forced to sideline those taskforce units,” said Goyeneche. “Which means the police department lost their proactive policing capabilities. So, now they are responding to calls for service which means a crime was committed.”
He says if the police department and the criminal justice system want to lower crime statistics, they need to re-engage in that proactive policing.
“Because if you aren’t doing the proactive policing, we are going to continue to see an escalation in homicides, and shootings, and the other categories of crime,” said Goyeneche.
He says as people and business owners begin to lose confidence in the police department’s ability to get a handle on violent crime, it could lead to an economic problem for the city as those business owners and residents reevaluate whether or not they want to stay in New Orleans.
