The NOPD today released crime statistics for the past three months.
"The New Orleans Police Department announced today... continued reductions in violent crime in New Orleans during the 2nd quarter of 2019, including a 33-percent drop in murders and a 30-percent decline in armed robberies," the news release outlined.
The NOPD website shows murders for the first quarter of the year held about steady from last year, up from 25 to 27 for January through March.
So, for the first half of this year, there have been 84 murders reported. That compares to 115 over the first six months of last year. That's a 27% reduction from 2018 to 2019.
For all of 2018 the city reported the lowest number of murders since 1971.
The release says non-fatal shootings were up two percent for the second quarter.
Armed robberies keep decreasing. NOPD reports a 30% reduction in the second quarter. The first quarter also saw a big drop in armed robberies. For the first half of the year armed robberies are down from 521 in 2018 to 372 in 2019. That's a drop of 29%.
“Our commitment to reducing crimes of violence in our city remains strong,” Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said. “While there is still plenty of work to be done, the men and women of the NOPD continue to make substantial progress toward making New Orleans safer.”
The news release also adds that so far in 2019, officers have seized 1,089 illegal guns compared to 958 during the same time period in 2018.
“Reducing gun-violence continues to be a top priority for myself, our Mayor and this department,” said Ferguson. “We will remain aggressive in our approach to reducing the number of illegal firearms to further reduce these types of crimes in our community.”
