By Kenny Kuhn | WWL Radio | November 9, 2020
The New Orleans crime statistics are out and they do not look good. According the President of The Metropolitan Crime Commission, Rafael Goyeneche, violent crime have spiked in the city of New Orleans.
“Particularly, shootings, and homicides, and carjackings, so those are some of the most serious offences that effect public safety in the community, and they are spiking in the city of New Orleans,” said Goyeneche.
He says although 911 calls in the city are down 9% over last year, people in the city call the police over 900 times a day despite the ongoing pandemic.
Goyeneche says he is concerned about the trend as it comes during a time where there are fewer police on the streets because of citywide furloughs.
“As alarming as the numbers are right now, I’m concerned the numbers will be even worst by the end of the year because there will be fewer officers available to respond to the spiking violent crime problem,” said Goyeneche.
He also says arrests are also down 50% compared to 2019.
According to the data, Goyeneche says robbery calls are down 18% versus 2019 but robbery arrests are also down 35%.
Carjackings, a subset of robbery calls, Goyeneche says, are spiking at an alarming rate.
“Just in the month of October, there were 32 calls for service for carjackings versus 3 in the previous October. That is 967% increase in one month,” said Goyeneche.