The New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) is hiring civilians to tackle rising crimes in the blue city, which previously defunded the police. As New Orleans is now the murder capital of the country, the city is in dire need of more law enforcement officials.
Liberal City Faces Law Enforcement Crisis
Shaun Ferguson, the Police Superintendent of New Orleans, noted the newly hired civilians will attend phone calls. They will also look into administrative matters, as administrative police officers will now do on-street jobs.
Reportedly, 50 to 75 civilians will be hired to attend calls that do not require the presence of police officials. According to the local media outlet of New Orleans, WDSU, some civilians will also receive training to do detective work.
New Orleans Police Department hiring civilians to bolster force as murderous crime wave hits city https://t.co/qemEWlw4Zi
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 26, 2022
WDSU also reported civilians will replace uniformed officers in investigating property accidents and medical calls.
Likewise, Ferguson added instead of police officers, civilian investigators will also visit crime scenes to collect any criminal evidence.
The latest policing crisis in New Orleans comes at a time when the city has become the murder capital of the United States.
By September 11, New Orleans reported 52 murders per every 100,000 residents, the most by any city in the country. These statistics suggest murders have increased by 78% in New Orleans in 2022, compared to last year.
Furthermore, homicides in New Orleans are almost 121% more this year, compared to 2019, as per data of crime watchdog Metropolitan Crime Commission.
Similarly, armed robberies in New Orleans are 42% more this year, compared to 2021, while carjackings increased by 14% over the same period.
The law enforcement situation in New Orleans worsened when the liberal mayor of the city, LaToya Cantrell, defunded the NOPD by $16 million, despite fears of surging crimes.
A lot of people blame the pandemic for rising crime, but the pandemic is over and high rates of crime remain. It’s obvious that the cause is the delegitimization and demoralization of police and the resulting emboldening of criminals.https://t.co/uImpWSXjfO
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) September 17, 2022
New Orleans Become the Murder Capital of America
After Cantrell’s hyper-progressive decision of police defunding, crime started to rise in New Orleans.
It turns out the city also lost almost 140 officers, while it hired only 40 new people in the department last year. Eventually, a staff shortage was created in the NOPD, which paved the way for potential criminals to carry out different violent crimes.
Ferguson also encouraged previously rejected citizens to resubmit their applications in NOPD, claiming the city changed its criteria for hiring people. Now, the city does not consider credit scores while hiring civilians into the police department, Ferguson noted.
However, civilians will still need to go through background checks and pass a training program before joining the force.
Some reasons for hiring civilians, Ferguson continued, are to reduce the response time of police officers and to lessen burdens on existing officers.
Estimates suggest 75 more police officials will eventually be able to patrol streets, while the average response time of the police will be reduced by 11 minutes to priority calls.
