Out of the usual body count over the weekend, I'm sure just about everybody took notice of a particularly gruesome murder. An infant, stabbed to death allegedly by his homeless mother with a railroad spike. How could this happen in our city? How could one not notice things are not OK in New Orleans…?
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"The lack of [police] presence and the lack of confidence probably in what's going on make this heighten the anxiety that I think people are feeling," says Dr. Peter Scharf, a criminologist with Louisiana State University.
Violent crime has taken hold of New Orleans.
It can be found in all corners of the city.
Every neighborhood from the French Quarter to Lakeview has been touched by violent crime.
What has violent crime done to New Orleans?
It's fraying the fabric of our society.
It has victimized the populace and left them feeling unsafe in their neighborhoods and in their homes.
"Are our people in New Orleans really in danger?" Asks Dr. Scharf. "And I think the highway shootings, the out of control gun violence reality, as well as the perception. And that's what makes this very difficult, I think, to deal with."
But deal with it we must, we must take notice:
"We are number three in the United States after St. Louis and Baltimore [for violent crime], we beat Detroit. In 2019 we were 13th in terms of murder rates, now we're three."
Scharf points to the Metropolitan Crime Report showing a marked drop in belief that the New Orleans Police Department can maintain control over the streets in the face of rising violent crime.
Violent Crime in New Orleans is escalating in New Orleans. And the psychological aspect of crime is striking fear into the society.
"The other thing is you're having attrition among the police force," Scharf explains. "We brought 14 on through a new recruit class—we lost thirty-something. So if the police are leaving, that's another reason to believe they're leaving because of fear, necessarily."
Scharf says out of control crime is not only affecting the residents, it's being factored in corporate America as well and could sway decisions about corporate tourism, branch expansion and relocation.
What is the response that could happen?
New Orleans could flash right back to the 1960's per-se.
"Now we have a city with ubiquitous violence. And people are running to the suburbs. Running to safety. Almost everybody in the City has experienced this level of fear."