Citizen Crime Watch Blog

NOPD solving more homicide cases
Determination trounces severe staff shortage
Sunday, June 29, 2008
By Brendan McCarthy
The Times-Picayune

Closing a case like this one would be a major win in a city where the sheer number of slayings overwhelms a thinly staffed NOPD homicide unit of just 16 detectives. Each detective in the homicide unit had already surpassed the nationally recommended annual caseload of six per detective — in less than half a year. If the killing holds steady, a near certainty, each detective will have a 2008 portfolio more than double that size.

“They are out there; they are relentless,” said Capt. Kevin Anderson, commander of the unit, of his group. “They beat the streets, turn every stone once, sometimes twice.”

Still, despite uncooperative witnesses and an overtaxed unit, NOPD Homicide has upped its clearance rate to its highest level in years. As of late May, the squad’s clearance rate sat at 64 percent, above the national average and significantly higher than the rates of recent years.

Detectives “clear” a case when they formally name a suspect and secure an arrest warrant. Although the statistic does not consider convictions, police officials say it provides a gauge for detectives’ performance. …

Since early last year, the homicide squad has supplemented its ranks with a rotation of five or six FBI agents, who assist local investigators in all aspects of their cases. The rare federal initiative took hold as the city’s escalating murder rate garnered national attention.

But that assistance ended days ago, leaving the office as short-staffed as ever.

Defillo, boss of the investigative bureau, said the entire police force needs more people, more money. Homicide is no different. Once more recruits are hired, the homicide unit will be expanded, he said.

One key addition, Defillo said, is a recently created two-person “homicide intelligence unit” within the division, Defillo said. It tracks murder suspects, learns about their motives and anticipates retaliatory killings.

— Cases screened faster —

For the most part, the homicide unit works alone, sequestered from the day-in and day-out traffic stops, minor arrests and other tasks of a typical patrol officer. Several NOPD divisions, such as juvenile, intelligence and district detective units, lend support, yet homicide’s closest allies may be the prosecutors in the district attorney’s office.

Homicide department heads, along with Bobby Freeman, head of the district attorney’s Violent Offender Unit, said that better communication and an expedited screening process have soothed a sometimes-testy relationship between the agencies. In addition to the increased clearance rate, the homicide unit is bringing more cases to the district attorney’s office for prosecution.

More than 57 cases were presented to the Violent Offender Unit in the first four months of 2008 — compared with 47 cases in all of 2007. Instead of waiting until late in the screening process, as the legal deadline to charge defendants looms, the prosecutors are working more with the detectives on the front end of the investigation, Freeman said. …

[more]

Violent crime surges in N.O.
Armed holdups rise sharply in statistics
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
By Laura Maggi
The Times-Picayune

Violent crime jumped almost 20 percent in New Orleans during the first three months of 2008 compared with the same period last year, including a substantial surge in armed robberies, according to crime statistics released Monday by the New Orleans Police Department.

Although the first quarter of 2008, which ended March 31, also showed a 10.4 percent drop in murders compared with last year’s first quarter, that improvement was erased quickly by a spike in killings in April, Superintendent Warren Riley said Monday.

As of May 4, there were 70 killings in New Orleans this year compared with 63 killings by May 4, 2007, an NOPD spokesman said.

“We are doing everything that we can. We have identified a couple (of) areas that recently popped up, and we are addressing them,” said Riley, who briefly addressed questions about the statistics during an event to teach students at McMain High School about the NOPD.

Overall, crime decreased 4 percent in New Orleans in the first quarter of 2008 versus the initial months of 2007. But that decrease can mostly be attributed to drops in property crimes, particularly burglaries and thefts. The nonviolent crimes included in the statistics release decreased by about 9 percent.

In comparison, there was a spike in crimes against people, which rose 19.5 percent compared with last year. The number of armed robberies grew 46 percent and assaults increased by 11.9 percent. The number of rapes almost doubled: 26 rapes in the first quarter of 2008 compared with 14 last year.

[more]

New Orleans Politics
4/26/08
The Times-Picayune

HOLD THAT THOUGHT: Fewer murders occurred in New Orleans in early 2008 than in early 2007, New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley trumpeted a week ago, citing a decline of more than 8 percent as evidence that his officers are calming street violence.

But starting the very night that Riley noted the drop, the city’s killers underscored how tenuous such incremental gains can be.

From Friday night through Sunday there were six murders, starting with a 23-year-old man shot as he drove away from his girlfriend’s house on Dufossat Street and concluding just a few blocks away with a 32-year-old man killed on Upperline Street.

On Wednesday, Riley acknowledged that the spurt of slayings had erased the department’s gains. On the day of his news conference, there had been 54 murders this year compared with 59 at the same point last year. By Wednesday, the homicide tally had narrowed to 61 in 2007 versus 60 in 2008.

“We went even,” Riley said while defending his earlier press conference as an opportunity to inform New Orleans residents about progress being made by the department with homicides, drug busts and robbery arrests.

Riley cited as a sign of progress the 110 narcotics search warrants issued by the department in the first quarter of the year, which yielded more than 100 drug arrests. During the earlier press conference, Deputy Chief James Scott said the level of search warrants is a “bit of an increase” for the department.

While the number of murders crept back up to last year’s level in the past week, armed robberies declined, Riley said Wednesday. “We’re putting the right people in jail,” he said.

NOPD reports murder rate down from 2007
09:37 PM CDT on Friday, April 18, 2008
Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans police are winning the battle against violent crime, Police Superintendent Warren Riley said Friday.

Though the number of murders in the first three months of 2008 were only slightly down, arrests were way up Riley said. And he said his officers are taking other violent offenders, weapons and drugs off the street at record rates. …

There were 54 murders in the first quarter of this year, compared to 59 last year, Riley said. Of those, 60 percent have been solved and 30 people arrested. The national average for clearing homicide cases is 55 percent, Riley said. Of the remaining open 2008 cases, nearly 90 percent have possible suspects and are close to being solved, he said.

[more]

January ‘08 2nd District NONPACC report (Excel spreadsheet)

2nd District map (pdf)

The 2nd District map may also be used to locate the next walking beat on Sunday, February 24th as indicated by Major Bouyelas’ email blast:

Email Blast
NOPD 2nd District

As per discussion at the recent NONPACC meeting, we will begin sending out email notices on when/where officers will be on walking beats in the 2nd District.

On February 24th officers will be on walking beats in “Zone E”, between the hours of 7:00am – 7:00pm. We would encourage you to stop the officers and introduce yourself. Let them know about your neighborhood and any concerns you may have.

##########

Email Blast
NOPD 2nd District

As per discussion at the recent NONPACC meeting, we will begin sending out email notices on when/where officers will be on walking beats in the 2nd District.

On February 25th officers will be on walking beats in “Zone F”, between the hours of 7:00am – 7:00pm. We would encourage you to stop the officers and introduce yourself. Let them know about your neighborhood and any concerns you may have.

Major Kirk Bouyelas
Second District Commander
New Orleans Police Department

Violent crime in N.O. soaring — maybe
by Brendan McCarthy, The Times-Picayune
Sunday February 17, 2008, 7:05 PM

By Brendan McCarthy
Staff writer

Violent crime skyrocketed last year in New Orleans as population continued to return to the city, rising 53 percent in raw numbers of incidents and at least 22 percent on a per-capita basis.

Last week, the New Orleans Police Department released the latest crime statistics, along with an analysis that showed violent crime stayed relatively flat, on a per-capita basis, in the fourth quarter of 2007 compared to the fourth quarter of 2006. But a comparison of statistics from both full years, using the population estimates favored by NOPD, shows that violent crime has increased substantially.

Further, per-capita crime statistics for both of the past two years represent a substantial jump from per-capita crime rates before Katrina, the figures show.

[more]

The Times-Picyaune is reporting that crime is up. Numerically, that may be true, but the increase from the fourth quarter of 2006 to the first quarter of 2007 is reflected mostly in assaults and thefts. Homicides, rapes, and robberies are down. Overall crime is up — true — but the offenses people most worry about are down.

Were I the reporter (of course, NOPD personnel didn’t respond to efforts to contact them), I think I’d be paying more attention to what’s represented in those high assault numbers — shootings? How many are drug-related incidents? How many are defenseless people getting mugged?

I don’t find anything meaningful in looking at figures from the first quarter of 2006, just months after Hurricane Katrina, when New Orleans had, at most, 1/4 of the pre-Katrina population.

In no way am I saying that a measurable rate of crime in any category is acceptable. I’m just saying that I don’t think I appreciate the spin put on the statistics by the T-P. Of course there’s more work to do, but some credit may be due where something the NOPD is doing might actually be working to put away the bad guys.

Related:

da po’ blog, Crime Numbers.