The city of New Orleans has been declared the murder capital of the United States for the first half of 2022, the homicide rate in New Orleans is significantly higher than in any other American city with a murder rate of 41 per 100,000 people.

The city’s 2022 murder total is up 46% from the same time last year and an incredible 141% since 2019. The year to date for murders is 208, only 13 less than the total of 221 for all of 2021, and there is still 3 months to go. This is all after only a total of only 121 murders in all of 2018, this time of increase is unbelievable to say the least.

The Metropolitan Crime Commission has indicated the crime increase is most notable in the Central and East parts of New Orleans. These two districts alone account for 50% of the violent crime in the entire city. The Metropolitan Crime Commission Goyeneche indicated said “If you can reduce crime by 50% in those two districts, you are reducing violent crime by 25% in the entire city of New Orleans”

Officer Shortage

Like many police departments New Orleans is experiencing a shortage of officers and a failed retention policy. The number of officers has decreased over the years by over 30%. The city budget is for 1,500 officers but the city currently only has roughly 990 which will drop even more by years end.

The city has announced a program to hire 75 civilians to help with some duties police handle today to help alleviate the stress on the department. This sounds a like “Defunding the Police”. The new civilians will perform such duties as car accidents and investigating certain property crimes. One of the items listed as non violent is silent burglar alarms, which accounts for 2.5% of the force’s time spent each year. I am not sure about you but the idea of sending a civilian to a silent alarm doesn’t sound safe.