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Crime Remains High in New Orleans’ Fifth District

Posted on May 10, 2010 in Local Issues, NOPD

Twenty-four of the sixty homicides that have occurred in New Orleans this year have taken place in the city’s fifth district. Despite the high rate of homicides in the fifth district, this area of the city (which includes the lower ninth ward) does not have a permanent police station. Much of the crime in this district is drug related and linked to individuals who were released from prison and unable to find alternative employment. Residents of the fifth district, however, are afraid to speak out against people committing crimes because they fear for their personal safety. This situation creates a difficult paradox because police rely on community involvement to lower crime. Expanding cooperation between the police force and the residents of New Orleans’ fifth district as well as providing alternative employment to reduce dependence upon drug sales as a means for income is the area’s best hope for lowering its disproportionately high crime rate. Zoë Clements is a student at Tulane University. She can be reached by email at zclement@tulane.edu.

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