The Night Out Against Crime is a nationwide event meant to bolster support for local, national, and federal law enforcement agencies, increase awareness of crime prevention tactics among civilians, and decrease rates of crime within the community. 

However, in light of tumultuous police relations and below-average crime clearance numbers in the city of New Orleans, people can view these events as performative, said Rae Taylor, Loyola criminology professor and chair of the department of criminology and justice. 

“I think that conceptually it’s a wonderful idea, and I know historically there has been a lot of success but this year I have some different feelings about it given the current context of things in our city,” Taylor said. 

The purpose of this event is to create awareness of the state of crime in the city of New Orleans. However, after New Orleans was reported to be leading the nation in murders for 2022, according to Nola.com, Taylor said awareness is the least of the city’s problems. 

“We are in the midst of a crisis. We have exorbitant violent crime rates right now, and we have very low clearance numbers,” Taylor said. “The citizens of the city are very aware of the crime problem. We don’t need to come together to bring awareness, we need to be out solving crimes.”

While the NOPD was celebrating Night Out Against Crime, at least two stabbings took place within 24 hours of the event in their jurisdiction, according to police reports from that day. 

The New Orleans Police Department declined to comment on the events and the city’s current crime rate.