Crime rates are down pretty much across the board in the metro New Orleans area.
Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto says he believes a blend of enhanced enforcement techniques and advancements in technology have much to do with declining crime rates. “If you go back to the 1990s, we were looking at around 3,500 average auto thefts a year. But, then engineers addressed some issues and made a better job of designing their cars to be theft-proof. Keys are different and you can’t access vehicles as easily, so now we’re sitting at 500 auto thefts per year,” Lopinto notes.
Sheriff Lopinto also notes that the wide accessibility of cameras has also been a deterrent when it comes to crime. “Cameras are phenomenal. Even if it’s just a Ring camera on someone’s door. It used to be, someone would pull on door handles and you wouldn’t know it until you realized your car had been broken into. But, now, we can get images and descriptions of the individuals from that footage along with their vehicles and we can look for them and hopefully catch them,” adds Lopinto.
The Jefferson Parish sheriff is also quick to credit quick responses and follow-up from law enforcement along with enhanced technology as a reason behind the decline in crime. “We’ve been tracking these same categories since 1974 and these are the lowest rate of crime we’ve seen since well before 1974. Our philosophy is we solve crime quickly to prevent the next crime from happening,” Lopinto goes on to emphasize.
Vigilance and reporting are still of the utmost importance, Lopinto adds. “Very seldom are you going to be able to be in the right place at the right time when a burglary or auto theft is occurring. But, if you’re able to use the tools you have at hand to catch that perpetrator, the chance of that person doing another crime the next day is slim to none because the perp is still in jail. That makes a huge difference.”