As New Orleans slowly begins to rebuild and citizens return, so has the city’s infamous crime.
University Police Capt. Roger Pinac attributes the crime influx to “more and more people moving back into the city.” “The more people you have in the city will obviously increase the amount of crime the city has,” he said.
Pinac said that much of the problems with controlling crime recently can be blamed on a “depleted New Orleans Police Department,” a group, he points out, that is still working out of trailers.
Once the city that led the nation in homicides per capita by nearly 10 times the national rate, New Orleans saw its homicide rates drop drastically after Hurricane Katrina.
According to a Sept. 6 article in The Times-Picayune, “… There have been 93 homicides in New Orleans, compared with 202 by this time last year, according to police, meaning murders are running at about the same rate as before the storm, given the drastically reduced population, now at about half pre-Katrina levels.”
In a March 30 issue of The New York Times, NOPD Capt. Timmy Bayard said that crime in the city is “not as plentiful as it was (before the storm).” He added, however that finding criminals is like “looking for a needle in a haystack.”
City reports from the NOPD have found that criminals have taken to hiding in devastated and abandoned areas of the city, the Times reported.
NOPD Assistant Superintendent Steven Nicholas told Fox News, “I think a lot of what you can see – there was an upsurge, a wave in crime – is based on that false sense of perception that everyone had in the last quarter of 2005 when we had virtually no one living in the city.” He went on to say: “Crime is down over 50 percent in all categories. The murder rates are down. I just think going from zero to this point may, in fact, be an upsurge.”
CAMPUS EFFECTS
Brian Mason, accounting senior, said that when driving to his house he makes sure to lower his radio as to not bring attention to himself.
“Living two blocks from a known bad neighborhood makes you take those extra precautions, such as always remembering to lock your doors and close your windows. I’d rather be safe then sorry,” Mason said.
Loyola University Women’s Resource Center Director Susanne Dietzel said that she is concerned about crime and its effect on communities. “It creates a certain fear in people that they shouldn’t have,” said Dietzel.
At Loyola, Pinac said, the University Police force has been depleted by almost half, as officers were unable to return to the city or find affordable housing after the storm. “The university didn’t cut these officers, they simply just couldn’t find a place to live now that rent is so high,” he said.
The university is already beginning to feel the strain on university police, as exhibited by the limited library hours, said Pinac.
Libby Kearney, public relations senior, said that Loyola’s small size and Uptown location will hopefully keep crime on campus low. “It’s when you’re out off campus that you really need to take precautions such as traveling in groups and placing your keys in between your fingers,” she said.
During new student orientation Loyola devotes time to educating new students not only on campus safety, but on precautions they should take when traveling in the city.
“The Loyola Police Department is working hard not only to educate students on campus safety, but also on how to be safe in the city of New Orleans,” Pinac said.
Casey Hanson, forensic science freshman, said, “One of my friends has mace in her purse, and I’m also considering getting some myself.” Hanson said she felt that university police has been timely in handling the issues that have occurred on campus.
Since Katrina, there has been a climate of greater intolerance toward crime, according to the New York Times. New Orleans has a history of mistrust for local law enforcement – often crimes go unreported due some residents’ poor relationships with the NOPD. Following Katrina, however, reports of crimes have come in more quickly and readily then the NOPD has ever witnessed.
Eugenio Hernandez III can be reached at [email protected].
