Crime declining in New Orleans: What's the latest in the trend?

Crime declining in New Orleans: What's the latest in the trend?Photo: iStock
Hoodline
Published on August 22, 2019

The number of reported crimes in New Orleans last week remained roughly even with the week before, according to data from SpotCrime, which collects reports from police agencies and validated sources.

The specific offenses that decreased the most were theft and vandalism. The number of reported thefts fell to 410 incidents last week, down from 428 the week before, and the number of vandalism reports dropped from 91 to 82.

Among other categories, there was also a decrease in the number of burglary reports, down from 233 incidents per week to 229.

There was one reported arson last week, which represents a steady state from the previous week.

Among the few types of offenses that saw an uptick last week, the number of reports of assault rose from 308 to 351, the number of reported shootings rose from 43 to 60, and the number of reported robberies went up from 25 to 28.

There were 2,777 reports of "other" crimes, a decrease of 46 from the previous week. SpotCrime's broad "other" category includes a variety of offenses like fraud, trespassing, public disturbance and traffic violations. Of those incidents, 72 involved arrests, such as for drug possession, down from 86 reported arrests the week before.

As far as where crime is concentrated in the city, the French Quarter, the Central Business District and Central City continued to have the highest number of reported incidents last week.

The French Quarter saw the largest decline. The number of crime reports in Read Blvd. East also fell, after increasing the week before, and the number of reported incidents in St. Claude are down considerably as well.

Regarding when most crimes are committed, Friday, Saturday and Sunday had the most reports of criminal incidents last week. The largest decrease in the number of crime reports from the previous week occurred on Tuesday, Monday and Wednesday, while the number of reported incidents on Friday, Thursday and Sunday went up. Comparing times of day, late afternoon, evening and early afternoon saw the most crime last week.

Want a longer-term view of crime in New Orleans? Here's our latest monthly crime report.

To report a crime in progress or life-threatening emergency, call 911. To report a non-urgent crime or complaint, contact your local police department.

Head to SpotCrime to get free local crime alerts in your area.

This story was created automatically using local crime data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about our data sources and local crime methodology. Got thoughts about what we're doing? Go here to share your feedback.