Crime

Despite fewer murders, N.O. still among Top 5 deadliest U.S. cities

LOUISIANA WEEKLY — Despite closing out 2018 with 145 homicides, the lowest murder total in nearly five decades, New Orleans remains one of the nation’s Top 5 deadliest cities

Published

8 years ago

January 8, 2019

Oakland Post

By The Louisiana Weekly

Despite closing out 2018 with 145 homicides, the lowest murder total in nearly five decades, New Orleans remains one of the nation’s Top 5 deadliest cities.

Late last month, NOPD Supt. Michael Harrison attributed the drop in violent crime to the use of a Real Time Crime Center that utilizes a network of surveillance cameras across the city, the NOPD’s TIGER program which targets repeat violent offenders and improved police-community relations.

LSU criminologist Dr. Peter Sharf told FOX 8 News that crime cameras and stability in police hierarchy deserve credit for a historic low when it came to murders in 2018.

However he says the city still has a long way to go.

The year 2018 was a year that started out on the wrong foot when it came to murders.

“Much of the carnage this year was in the first two months, and it’s gone down consistently,” said LSU Health criminologist, Peter Scharf, PhD.

For example, Mardi Gras day in February, four people were killed in three separate shootings, Uptown, in the CBD and in Treme, and some were predicting a violent year.

That didn’t happen, and the city’s chronic murder problem settled down.

New Orleans finished out 2018 with 145 murders, a 47-year low, with the murder of Marla Belin, one of the last, and the arrest of Tyrone Fountain last night.

Dr. Scharf says the increased use of crime cameras and technology deserves much of the credit for the overall drop in murders.

“My suspicion in the short term is the cameras, and pro active patrol, the public health things will take a longer time to develop,” said Scharf.

Scharf also credits stability in NOPD leadership, and superintendent Michael Harrison.

“Absolutely, Michael like all of us had a mixed reputation, he’s built a good team, and has a sound strategy,” said Scharf.

Scharf says murders are down nationally, and he cautions, though the trends are good in New Orleans, it is still one of the most violent cities in the country.

“When you look at murder in 2018, New York is 3.5 per 100,000, we’re at 36 or 37, so we’re 10 times more dangerous for violent crime than New York,” said Scharf.

Dr. Scharf says the city has all but abandoned its old goal of 1,600 police officers.

He said crime cameras, and more “intelligent” policing are helping to achieve crime reductions at lower troop strength.

Despite the significant drop in homicides, an analyst notes that the murder rate remains among the nation’s highest.

The 145 homicides in the city in 2018 marked the lowest total since 116 in 1971. It also marked the second drop in a row: from 174 in 2016 to 157 in 2017 and 145 last year.

The murder rate is about 37 per 100,000 residents. That’s at best fourth-highest and might be No. 3, crime analyst and City Council consultant Jeff Asher told The New Orleans Advocate. St. Louis and Baltimore have the highest rates, and either Detroit and New Orleans will be next, he said.

It would take a further significant reduction for New Orleans to drop to No. 5, he said.

New Orleans’ murder rate has been flat for four years, Scharf told WVUE-TV.

“I think we need to try some of these new initiatives, public health approaches and see if we can get it so that New Orleans is kind of like other cities in the United States, it’s not now,” Scharf said. “So the question is, you have pockets of extreme at-risk kids who are armed and they’re in the drug culture – how do you intervene effectively with those kids way prior to anybody shooting anybody?”

New Orleans’ 47-year low in murders was accompanied by a drop of about 28 percent in the number of non-deadly shooting incidents from 2017, the newspaper reported. Armed robberies fell for the third year in a row, and the number of carjackings came down as well in 2018, according to statistics kept by the New Orleans City Council’s Criminal Justice Committee.

Asher said police work could be part of the reasons, but other factors are almost certainly at play.

Violent crime is trending downward nationally, and communities frequently see cooler periods in the wake of a spike in violence, which New Orleans endured when there were about two shootings daily for a year beginning in the middle of 2016.

“We don’t necessarily know what the drivers of gun violence (rates) are from day to day, month to month, or year to year,” Asher said. “More than likely, it’s not a single explanation, but it would be logical to say one of those things could be enforcement.”

Asher also noted that while 2018 saw the fewest murders in New Orleans since 1971, the city had a lower murder rate in 1985, when there were 152 slayings and more than 500,000 residents.

Harrison, who always points out that even a single murder is too many, concedes that plenty of work remains to be done.

But he said he’s optimistic. For one thing, he said, his agency is closing in on substantial compliance with a 492-point federally mandated consent decree aimed at bringing the department up to federal standards for constitutional policing that has improved performance, most notably by slashing the rate at which its 1,200 officers resort to force.

Implementation of the NOPD consent decree began in August 2013.

“The whole city needs to know it was the 1,200 officers who executed (the strategies) and willingly transformed” the agency, Harrison said. “They should recognize it’s the officers who made the culture change, and I’m honored it’s under my leadership.”

This article originally appeared in the Louisiana Weekly.

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Black History

Oakland Observes Black August with Block Parties, Film Showings, Workshops

POST NEWS GROUP — Beginning in 1979 in San Quentin State Prison, the Black Guerrilla Family called for the remembrance of political prisoner George Jackson and his brother Jonathan Jackson who were assassinated in the early 1970s. George Jackson was considered a political prisoner in that it was the anti-Black justice system that led to his incarceration for armed robbery with a sentence of one year-to-life in 1960.

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1 day ago

August 15, 2026

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George Jackson wrote two books: “Soledad Brother,” and “Blood in My Eye” before her was killed in an attempt to escape prison on Aug. 21, 1971.

By Jana Lang, Propel Youth Reporter

Study. Train. Fast. Fight.

These are the four tenets of Black August, a month dedicated to commemorating the sacrifices of political prisoners and Black revolutionaries in the struggle for Black liberation.

Observers are urged to study the history of the Black struggle for freedom, train their bodies for health and self-defense, fast to cleanse the mind, body, and spirit, and fight ongoing oppression alongside their communities and local political organizations.

Beginning in 1979 in San Quentin State Prison, the Black Guerrilla Family called for the remembrance of political prisoner George Jackson and his brother Jonathan Jackson who were assassinated in the early 1970s. George Jackson was considered a political prisoner in that it was the anti-Black justice system that led to his incarceration for armed robbery with a sentence of one year-to-life in 1960.

While in prison, George befriended fellow prisoner W.L. Nolen, who introduced him to the works of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Mao Zedong, and Frantz Fanon. This radicalization coupled with his experiences of violence while imprisoned led to him writing and publishing two books, “Soledad Brother” (1970), and “Blood in my Eye” (1972). In January of 1970, George and two other prisoners were charged with murdering a corrections officer at Soledad State Prison in Monterey County.

On Aug. 7, 1970, Jonathan Jackson burst into a Marin County courtroom armed with a shotgun to demand the freedom of the Soledad Brothers. He, along with the inmates he freed, was shot and killed while driving away. This involved one of the Black Panther Party’s most notable associates, Angela Davis, because the shotgun was registered in her name. She was later acquitted of charges of conspiracy, kidnapping, and murder in 1972.

On Aug. 21, 1971, George Jackson was assassinated by a corrections officer after attempting to escape and free other inmates. As a result, there were uprisings and protests within prisons all over the country that year, calling forth resistance against racial oppression and mass incarceration.

Since its outset, Black August has evolved across the country, taking many forms to honor this history and embody the four tenets.

In Oakland, the upcoming Black August Experience, hosted by Youth Alive! and the East Oakland Boxing Association (EOBA), is a free, family-friendly event celebrating the legacy of Black August. Activities include free food and drinks, a kids’ activity zone, interactive workshops, live cooking and boxing demonstrations, and more.

Happening on Aug. 21 from 4-8 p.m. at the EOBA Patio, Carolyn Flynn, director of administration at EOBA, said the event, in its second year, will be an opportunity to engage with people in person through food, shared space, and education.

“We do regular classes in education, and those are ongoing programs that we offer, but we wanted to have [an opportunity] for our neighbors to utilize this space.” Combined with Youth Alive’s work in community violence prevention and youth leadership, this event surely aims to bring the Oakland community together to capture what Black August means today.

Here are additional Black August events happening in Oakland:

Forum and Community Discussion hosted by the Oakland Liberation Center, 1499 Fruitvale Ave., Aug. 14, 7 p.m.

“George Jackson/San Quentin” Screening hosted by Nostalgic for Nothing Cinema at Moments Co-Op, 410 13th St., Aug. 16, doors at 6 p.m., show at 6:30 p.m. (Masks required and scent-free)

Commemorating the Struggle, Building the Altar for Liberation: Black August at Bandung Books, 2269 International Blvd., Aug. 23rd, 1-5 p.m.

Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS), will host “Black August: The Arc of Liberation” at Oakland City Hall on Sat. Aug. 29, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

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Activism

Oakland Post: Week of August 12 – 18, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of August 12 – 18, 2026

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1 day ago

August 15, 2026

Oakland Post

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Crime

Congresswoman Simon Demands Investigation into Trump’s Abuse of Emergency Powers for Coal Export Terminal in West Oakland

POST NEWS GROUP — Last week, in a letter to the GAO Acting Comptroller General Orice Williams Brown, Simon and her colleagues questioned the Department of Energy’s plan to use up to $425 million in DPA funds to support coal-fired power plants and construct the West Gateway Terminal Project in Oakland.

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1 week ago

August 9, 2026

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‘No On Coal’ demonstrators protest the use of the Port of Oakland as a terminal to ship coal overseas. File photo.

By Post Staff

U.S. Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) joined California senators and other members of the California delegation to Congress to call on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate the Trump administration’s use of the Defense Production Act and other taxpayer funds to support coal projects, including the proposed coal export terminal in West Oakland.

Defense Production Act funding is for national defense emergencies, such as authorizing private car companies to build parts for tanks or ships.

Since President Donald Trump’s June 4 announcement of $75 million in funding for the Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal, Simon has opposed and worked to stop the proposed coal terminal.

She filed an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2027 Energy and Water Appropriations bill that would have prohibited funding for the proposed Oakland coal export terminal project; however, House Republicans blocked the amendment.

Last week, in a letter to the GAO Acting Comptroller General Orice Williams Brown, Simon and her colleagues questioned the Department of Energy’s plan to use up to $425 million in DPA funds to support coal-fired power plants and construct the West Gateway Terminal Project in Oakland.

This terminal project would primarily serve foreign commercial markets, rather than meet national emergency needs.

“The Defense Production Act was intended to scale up domestic industrial capabilities to meet urgent military or national emergency needs; therefore, its invocation to construct a commercial, civilian export facility intended primarily to serve foreign commercial markets raises profound statutory, legal, and fiscal questions,” wrote the lawmakers, which included Senators Alex Padilla (D) and Adam Schiff (D), Jared Huffman (D-CA-02), ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee and Reps. John Garamendi (D-CA-08) and Ro Khanna (D-CA-17).

“We do not believe this satisfies the statutory definition of ‘national defense’ or ‘critical infrastructure protection’ under the DPA and that there is no legally sufficient, data-driven nexus between civilian coal exports and immediate U.S. military readiness or critical infrastructure defense,” the lawmakers’ letter said.

DPA funds are intended for U.S. national security and defense readiness. The Trump administration is instead diverting these funds to support a commercial export project that primarily benefits private industries and foreign markets in East Asia.

“Congress has never appropriated funds to the DOE’s DPA account with the intent of propping up a dying industry or financing a purely commercial project,” continued the lawmakers. “We are deeply concerned that DOE has improperly diverted funds from accounts intended by Congress for the critical modernization and resilience support of our nation’s grid to instead finance a commercial fossil fuel export project.”

Simon and colleagues also raised concerns that the Trump administration has improperly diverted funds designated for critical grid modernization and may be using emergency authorities to circumvent local environmental protections.

“With no clear national security nexus, we question whether the DOE utilized emergency DPA authorities with the intent of preempting or subverting valid local health ordinances and environmental regulations. If so, this would be a gross departure from the intent of the DPA,” concluded the lawmakers.