New Orleans is having a bit of a crime problem sooooooooooo what does the Mayor and City Council decide to do? Cut the District Attorney's budget and focus on parking violations. Columnist James Gill slammed the city government on the pages of the Morning Advocate:
With 50 shootings, and 15 murders in the first 23 days of the year, the city is on pace to record a level of carnage not seen in many years.The reverse of Hinds County.
Meanwhile, the City Council cuts the DA's budget by $600,000 and Mayor Mitch Landrieu comes up with a crime-fighting plan that includes more money for parking enforcement. Government was practically begging to be mocked, and Cannizzaro obliged.
While he was speaking, a trial was being held close by at federal court that featured lurid testimony about a string of murders committed in gang wars a couple of years ago. Hit-men have related matter-of-factly how they sought out their rivals and left them in a pool of blood.
If, even with that band of thugs off the street, the bodies are piling up at an even greater rate, it is no wonder that Cannizzaro received an ovation when he raised the alarm.
It may be hardly surprising that Cannizzaro regards his office as the most efficient component of the criminal justice system. But the City Council evidently shares his view because the reason it gave for cutting his budget, and forcing him to lay off staff, is that he prosecutes and convicts at a much greater rate than his predecessors.
It is perhaps futile to hope that the council will restore Cannizzaro's money, since that would mean acknowledging a stupid mistake, and that goes against the politician's grain.
Landrieu and the council are on a mission to expand the police department, which might seem a logical response to the crime stats. But a city that seeks more arrests and fewer prosecutions at the same time clearly isn't thinking straight.
Not that it makes much difference how many criminals are rounded up if there is nowhere to put them. A recent crime commission study found that the New Orleans slammer is overflowing with dangerous characters, even though a third of its population has been transferred to distant parishes with spare capacity. If there was a time when New Orleans liked to lock up harmless dopers, it has long passed. Nowadays, almost all the inmates face felony charges, most of them involving weapons or violence.
As NOPD grows, and its starts turning up at crime scenes before the perps have taken a powder, they will need a permanent “No Vacancies” sign at the jailhouse. Or, as Cannizzaro put it in his speech, “the revolving door of the criminal justice system will be put on overdrive and dangerous defendants will be placed back on the streets.”
More beds is the obvious answer, at least according to Cannizzaro, the crime commission and Gary Maynard, who monitors the jail's compliance with the federal consent decree under which it operates. Landrieu, however, believes public safety can be maintained with the jail we have.
To judge from the reaction to Cannizzaro's speech, the public grows impatient for action. Perhaps, one of these days, citizens will surround City Hall in protest. Even then, we probably won't see water cannon on the streets. Rest of column.
12 comments:
If their DA's office is as useless and as incompetent as ours, it might make sense.
My wife and I attended a wedding and the rehearsal dinner this weekend in New Orleans. I told her that things looked worse than ever in the Quarter. I don't think New Orleans is trying to do anything about crime. You just don't feel safe walking anywhere in the Quarter, including the main streets.
Just wait until they remove all the Confederate monuments, crime will drop to zero.
I disagree 6:37. We're down about once a month to stay in our FQ apartment. Much law enforcement presence from NOPD and the state troopers. Not that you don't have to be aware and use good judgement, I have never felt unsafe or uncomfortable. You see and experience things you probably don't ordinarily see, but that's part of it.
Research shows that poor parking enforcement leads to serious crime problems.
Shades of Jackson.
Wait! I thought crime was reduced when all " those " people either died or left after Katrina. Only " the right sort" could afford to come back and rebuild! Is the mafia trying to defend their drug, gambling and prostitution businesses from " the others" and we now have real cartels coming in?
WHOA! What am I thinking? We need to use NOLA to make ourselves feel superior and to support our blame games or else we'd have to take responsibility for problem solving.
Why don't we stick to trying to solve Mississippi's considerable problems rather than stick our nose into NOLA's business?
We can't do a damn thing about what's happening in NOLA or elsewhere but we could all do something to clean up our own crap!
This is sheer comedy. People want to talk about the crime in New Orleans, but yet the Yuppies of Madison and Rankin County's head their behinds down there damn near every other weekend and boost up their local economy. SMH
But yet don't want to take care of business in our own backyards?
New Orleans may have its problems - but at least its natives believe in supporting their own.
We are our own worse enemies!
8:54, please share the entertainment options here in Jackson which rival those in NOLA. Aquarium? Nope. Zoo? Well, not really. At least NOLA's zoo host visitors in a relatively safe part of the city, while Jackson's does the opposite. Music, plays and dining options? No contest. Pro sports?
8:27 apparently lost more than one hour of sleep this weekend.
This is actually the opposite of what takes place in Jackson.
@ 9:30am
"please share the entertainment options here in Jackson which rival those in NOLA. Aquarium? Nope. Zoo? Well, not really. At least NOLA's zoo host visitors in a relatively safe part of the city, while Jackson's does the opposite. Music, plays and dining options? No contest. Pro sports?"
Your logic is, "well since I am not stocking my own refrigerator with groceries - you'll take your family over to the Johnson's to go eat, since they have better groceries."
Once again, Jackson can have all that, probably except for a pro sports team. But we can handle the rest! We have to start from somewhere. Memphis made the necessary changes to their city, with help from the state. Birmingham made the necessary changes with some help from the state. Not saying Jackson should be a hefty welfare case for the state of Mississippi - but it should be priority one. Its our largest attraction and it gets treated like a red headed step child by Mississippi residents from across the state. Much of that is due to poor race relations and class warfare.
Many that have been elected to state wide office in Mississippi, simply used it to fatten their personal coffers at the detriment of this states progress. Regardless of party. Prime example of this, Phil Bryant, he will walk away from the Governors office with about $6 million in his war chest, while Mississippi remains low in quality of life rankings. High murder rate, poor quality of life, high unemployment, public education going down the drain, and $6 billion dollars on the states credit card due to unwarranted tax cuts. With a big ol' confederate themed state flag, that says to the rest of the nation - Mississippi still believes in Jim Crow and Segregation.
I will stand my ground. Mississippi is terrible with branding. The residents are stubborn for change and do not know how to put the proper people in place to make changes via their elected officials.
Mississippi needs some leaders that want to change the brand of this state and start competing against its southern neighbors, instead of being the stepping stone for the region.
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