New Orleans' murder rate, highest in nation, cut by 20%

Jet, Nov 13, 1995

New Orleans' murder rate, reportedly the nation's highest in 1994, has dropped 20 percent this year.

There have been 295 murders this year compared to 345 for the same period last year, the Associated Press reports.

This change has come since Richard Pennington took over as superintendent of a department tagged as one of the most corrupt in the nation.

Pennington and Mayor Marc Morial made significant changes that have helped lower the murder rate and raise the level of integrity within the department.

Police are walking beats again, having a stronger presence in neighborhoods and even building relationships with some of the residents.

"I think we are going to become a better police department," Pennington said.

This strategy, which has seemed to work in other U.S. cities, has especially been efficient in the three deadliest housing complexes in New Orleans. The murder rate is down 83 percent in public housing, said a New Orleans Police Department spokesperson.

When Morial took office last year, he reassigned 100 Police officers from desk jobs to street patrols and enacted one of the toughest juvenile curfews in the country.

"What we had in New Orleans was one of the worst situations in the country which is beginning to turn around," he said.

Changes have been made within the Police department to deal with its integrity.

The new public integrity division was staffed in part by FBI agents--a first in the country for a city police department. Last year more than 900 investigations were run through the division leading to 38 arrests, indictments or summonses, 89 suspensions, 18 dismissals and 24 resignations or retirements from officers under investigation.

Pennington's changes have not been welcomed by all officers. New restrictions on moonlighting meant hard economic times for officers who are among the lowest-paid in the country with a starting' salary of $15,700. The city is considering raising that to $22,500.

"If you don't Pay them properly, they are going to find another means getting money, and sometimes means they take money from drug dealers. They take money from individuals in the street. They do criminal, corrupt things," Pennington said.