NEW ORLEANS—According to the quarterly Uniform Crime Report (UCR) overall persons and property crime in New Orleans dropped four percent in the first six months of 2016 when compared to the last six months of 2015. The numbers represent a downward trend in overall crime in New Orleans this year.
View the UCR numbers from 2010-2016 here
UCR found, comparing the first six months of 2016 with the last six months of 2015, overall crime is down four percent. Person crimes are down two percent with a double-digit reduction in armed robberies and decreases in murders and simple robberies. Property crimes are down nearly five percent with double-digit reductions in burglaries and auto thefts. The numbers show aggressive deployment efforts have led to a downward trend in overall crime over the past six months.
“We’re working aggressively every day to make our neighborhoods safe, and this decrease shows that our efforts to reduce overall crime are making an impact,” said NOPD Superintendent Michael Harrison. “We will continue to reduce crimes of opportunity, such as armed robbery and theft, as we continue to grow the department through our recruiting and hiring campaign. At the same time, we are seeing strong results from our strategic and targeted investigations to track down suspects responsible for violent crime.”
Operation: TIGER (Tactical Intelligence Gathering and Enforcement Response) has led to the arrests of dozens of suspects responsible for multiple violent crimes across the city, including the arrest of a suspect wanted for a string of four armed robberies, two of which involved the suspect firing a weapon, City officials said.
However, the second quarter of 2016 compared to the same timeframe the previous year showed mixed results in overall persons and property crime. The statistics showed an increase in reports of sexual assaults and robberies and a decrease in murder, auto theft and burglary.
City officials said murder reduction remains the City’s top priority and the NOLA FOR LIFE murder reduction strategy continues to focus aggressively on enforcement and prevention. At the end of June 2016, there were 67 reported murders in New Orleans. That’s down 26 percent from the same timeframe in 2015 and down four percent from the same timeframe in 2014. The numbers represent the fewest murder victims in the first half of a year since 1971 (excluding 2006 after Hurricane Katrina).
The NOPD continues to lead the Multi-Agency Gang Unit that is designed to focus additional resources on the groups of individuals who continue to commit acts of violence in our neighborhoods, City officials said. As an integral component of NOLA FOR LIFE’s Group Violence Reduction Strategy (GVRS), the MAG Unit consists of a partnership with New Orleans Police Department (NOPD); Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office (DA); Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office (OPSO); Louisiana State Police (LSP); Parole Board of the Louisiana Department of Corrections; United States Attorney’s Office (USAO); Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF); Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); United States Marshal’s Service (USMS) and the United States Probation & Parole Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
With 15 murder victims in the first half of the year, group member-involved (GMI) murders are down 40 percent compared to 2015, and down 73 percent compared to 2012, the year when GVRS launched.
City officials said the MAG Unit has led to the indictments of 118 individuals associated with 14 groups, since Mayor Mitch Landrieu formed the group in 2012.
While official UCR statistics aren’t released until the end of each quarter, a recent spike in murders has been reported in the third quarter of 2016. Despite the spike, the numbers still show murders down 16% year-to-date. A total of 96 murders have been reported in 2016, compared to 114 reported in 2015 and 83 reported in 2014.
