Despair Grows In New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS ~ Nine people have been slain in New Orleans in the first eight days of the new year, deepening the sense of despair over the slow pace of the city's recovery and leaving police and civic leaders grasping for ways to stop the bloodshed. The government should make FEMA turn over records of residents of its trailers and trailer parks to New Orleans police and other agencies investigating crime in the area, U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu said Tuesday as officials struggled to cope with the situation. The proposal is part of a 10-point plan she announced in Washington for fighting crime in New Orleans, where nine killings in the first eight days of the new year are threatening its biggest business: tourism and conventions. Landrieu also called for sending more FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration agents to New Orleans and the surrounding area and for speeding up remaining reconstruction for the police department and other criminal justice facilities in the area.
The New Orleans police superintendent is talking of a possible curfew and lamenting his understaffed force. More than 15 months after Hurricane Katrina, tourism officials are rushing to reassure visitors with the Mardi Gras season approaching.
Last year, university researchers conducted an experiment in which police fired 700 blank rounds in a New Orleans neighborhood in a single afternoon. No one called to report the gunfire.
New Orleans residents are reluctant to come forward as witnesses, fearing retaliation. And experts say that is one of several reasons homicides are on the rise in the Big Easy at a time when other cities are seeing their murder rates plummet to levels not seen in decades.
The city’s murder rate is still far lower than a decade ago, when New Orleans was the country’s murder capital. But in recent years, the city’s homicide rate has climbed again to nearly 10 times the national average.
"There's a big difference between being concerned and being scared. Now I'm scared," said Baty Landis, a 34-year-old Tulane University professor and music club owner who is organizing a march later this week to urge officials to do something.
The spasm of violence came despite the presence of about 300 National Guardsmen and 60 state troopers who were brought in last June to help patrol the streets because of a surge in killings.
While police say most of the recent slayings have involved drugs in neighborhoods accustomed to violence, some took place in quieter areas. Last week, a filmmaker was shot to death and her physician husband wounded as they walked outside their Faubourg Marigny home with their toddler.
The New Orleans police superintendent is talking of a possible curfew and lamenting his understaffed force. More than 15 months after Hurricane Katrina, tourism officials are rushing to reassure visitors with the Mardi Gras season approaching.
Last year, university researchers conducted an experiment in which police fired 700 blank rounds in a New Orleans neighborhood in a single afternoon. No one called to report the gunfire.
New Orleans residents are reluctant to come forward as witnesses, fearing retaliation. And experts say that is one of several reasons homicides are on the rise in the Big Easy at a time when other cities are seeing their murder rates plummet to levels not seen in decades.
The city’s murder rate is still far lower than a decade ago, when New Orleans was the country’s murder capital. But in recent years, the city’s homicide rate has climbed again to nearly 10 times the national average.
"There's a big difference between being concerned and being scared. Now I'm scared," said Baty Landis, a 34-year-old Tulane University professor and music club owner who is organizing a march later this week to urge officials to do something.
The spasm of violence came despite the presence of about 300 National Guardsmen and 60 state troopers who were brought in last June to help patrol the streets because of a surge in killings.
While police say most of the recent slayings have involved drugs in neighborhoods accustomed to violence, some took place in quieter areas. Last week, a filmmaker was shot to death and her physician husband wounded as they walked outside their Faubourg Marigny home with their toddler.
Labels: 2nd Amendment, Crime, New Orleans
posted by Mike McCarville @ 7:58 AM
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