“We’re averaging a stolen car about one an hour so far this year,” in New Orleans, La., Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, told WWL’s Newell Normand this week.
He said that data updated this week by the commission indicates that automobile thefts have increased by 136% this year compared to last year. However, other crime metrics in the city have decreased.
According to Goyeneche, carjackings – or thefts while people are in their vehicles – are down around 44%.
While homicides are down around 8%, Goyeneche said that they are still 140% higher than the same time in 2019 (prior to the COVID-19 pandemic) with 101 victims so far this year. Overall shooting victims for this year stood at 231 as of May 14, compared to 242 at the same time last year. Armed robbery incidents are also down around 10% compared to 2022 with 177 reported so far this year.
“So, all of the crime trends are down,” Goyeneche said. “But last week was a particularly bad week as far as homicides… we’ve had 11 homicides over the past week, one of which was vehicular.”
Goyeneche and Normand also discussed the Federal Monitor’s Report on Jeffery Vappie and more. Listen to their full conversation here.
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