LSU New Orleans's biannual quality of life poll for Orleans and Jefferson Parishes is now out, and that survey finds that the perception of crime in New Orleans has dropped significantly.
In fact, that perception has fallen so much that crime is no longer the biggest concern for the city's residents.
According to the survey, only 14 percent of New Orleans residents say crime is the city's biggest issue, with 91 percent of Orleans Parish respondents saying they feel safe around their homes during the day and 75 percent saying they feel safe in their homes at night. Half of respondents said they believe crime is lower in the city now than it was two years ago.
Researcher Ed Chervenak said that's because New Orleanians are reporting less crime in their own backyards.
"People are more likely to say that they feel safe in their homes at night and that they are not hearing gunfire on a regular basis as they were in previous years," Chervenak said. "Less exposure to neighborhood violence is leading people to perceive that crime is declining in the city."
However, crime is still top of mind for Jefferson Parish residents.
The survey found that 11 percent of Jefferson Parish respondents said crime was the most important issue facing the parish, despite the parish having only eight homicides this year. Chervenak believes news coverage of crime in New Orleans may have influenced those responses.
"I think a lot of it has to do with headline crimes (and) that Jefferson Parish and Orleans Parish share the same media market," Chervenak said. "When there are reports of crime in New Orleans, people in Jefferson Parish tend to perceive that's what's happening in their neighborhood as well."
Although crime remains a concern in Jefferson Parish, the poll found that residents there by-and-large are happy. Eighty-seven percent of respondents said they are "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with life in Jefferson Parish, with 25 percent saying they either had nothing to complain about or couldn't identify the Jefferson Parish's biggest problem.
Only 62 percent of Orleans Parish residents said they were "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with life in New Orleans.
