Every day the New Orleans Police Department releases a list of "Major Offenses" that occur across the city. Today that report was unusually devoid of any homicides, shootings, assaults, armed robberies or carjackings.
Normally the accounting of offenses in the city from 7:00am one day until 7:00am the next day contains a list of violent crimes reported to the NOPD in that 24 hour period.
Today, there is just one offense listed; and it was a dispute between neighbors over the city's leash law for dogs that did not result in any injuries... other than maybe to a cell phone.
It happened in the upscale neighborhood of Marlyville-Fontainebleu.
"Victim used phone to record suspect walking dog without leash. Suspect forcefully took victim’s phone and threw it. Victim retrieved phone and recorded again. Suspect snatched and threw phone again and fled," the initial police report indicated.
It happened around 8:30am on Tuesday in the 4200 block of Vendome Place.
Most days this year, New Orleans has seen serious violence. The city is averaging more than two incidents of gun violence every day. When combined, homicides and nonfatal shootings equaled 64 in the first 29 days of the year.
The Metro Crime Commission reported 25 homicides in the period and 39 nonfatal shooting incidents with 51 people shot and wounded.
Shootings, carjackings and armed robberies are trending lower in the new year after a big spike to start 2023. Through Monday, all three of those crime categories were down double-digit percentages for they year. Homicide remained up 14% compared to last year.
MCC
The MCC released the following stats through January 29th:
Homicide victims: 25
-Six homicide victims in the past week (one negligent) vs. three last week
-Exceeds last year’s January total (25 YTD in 2023 vs. 24 in all of January 2022).
Nonfatal shooting incidents: 39
–approximately 51 shooting victims
-Seven nonfatal shooting incidents in the past week (vs 5 prior week)
Carjacking incidents: 20
-two incidents last week vs 3 prior week
-down substantially compared to both 2021 and 2022
Armed Robbery: 45
-13 incidents last week vs 11 prior week
Car thefts over that time have skyrocketed.
The MCC says:
In the first 29 days of 2023, there have been at least 761 reported car thefts.
This is an average of over 26 stolen cars per DAY…
…at a rate of over 1 car per HOUR reported stolen
–An additional 127 auto theft calls were marked as “Gone on Arrival,” indicating that the complaining witness/victim is no longer on scene when officers arrive.
