New Orleans crime wave not spreading to Jefferson Parish

As New Orleans contends with a crime wave almost unprecedented in scope, it’s a much different picture in Jefferson Parish.
During this pandemic New Orleans has seen property crimes, carjacking, shooting and murder statistics skyrocket, Jefferson Parish numbers are under control, decreasing as a matter of fact.
“We’re not seeing the increases they have been seeing lately,” Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto says. “Most of the categories, the burglaries, thefts, auto thefts, are down in double digits. 17%, 11%, 12% down. That’s actually been good news. Our murders are down a little bit.”
Two distinct parishes with two distinct rates of crime. While New Orleans is caught in the middle of a rising crime wave, Jefferson Parish's crime rate is mostly flat.
“It’s good news for Jefferson Parish. Our overall numbers are still seeing a 10% decrease, a 10.6% decrease, over last year’s numbers, which has been a continuing trend in Jefferson Parish.”
The question remains: why is Jefferson not seeing rising crime numbers and why is crime not spilling over the parish line into Jefferson Parish?
“Where we are very successful in Jefferson Parish is in having our own accredited crime lab,” Lopinto states. “We’re the only agency with the local ability to be able to run our evidence real quick. We don’t have to send it to state police or to the state crime lab, or regional crime lab.”
Lopinto says the faster they can process evidence the faster they can identify suspects and focus on making arrests quicker and preventing criminals from committing additional crimes.
“We have the ability to extract that information very quickly,” he says. “Instead of that carjacker being able to carjack five different victims before he gets caught, hopefully we’re able to catch him after the first or the second one and prevent the third, fourth, or fifth one from ever occurring.”
Lopinto says stopping opportunity criminals like carjackers, burglars, or armed robbers faster is key. When they are off the streets, statistical numbers are held at bay.