​ New Orleans crime and housing problems highlighted in new studies - WDSU New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS —

Crime and affordable housing are some of the biggest issues plaguing New Orleans. Two new studies are highlighting the problems.

The studies show a drop in the public's satisfaction with New Orleans police. The other gives a lower letter grade on the quality of housing in New Orleans.

"On a broad scale, satisfaction with the police department has gone down,” Melanie Talia, New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation president, said.

Talia said the data for their study was compiled from Sept. 5 to 7 from 600 adults in New Orleans.

"Some of the responses include slow response times and not enough officers on the street,” Talia said.

The study also shows a drop in satisfaction with how police are handling violent crimes.

There were improvements on a smaller scale.

The study shows 82 percent of those polled feel safe in their own neighborhoods.

New Orleans police issued the following statement to WDSU:

“The NOPD welcomes the citizen feedback generated by this annual survey, which is a helpful diagnostic tool for looking at how our efforts are being received in the communities we serve and where we have room to improve. We are greatly heartened to see 82% of residents reporting that they feel safe in their own neighborhoods, and 51% of residents reporting that they feel safe in other neighborhoods.

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“While we value the work of the Crime Commission on this project, and will closely analyze their findings, we feel the survey window between September 5th and 7th of this year means that the responses were taken in a period prior to the public results of our summertime crime suppression efforts being made public, and immediately prior to the public being made aware of a decline in homicides, year over year. The impact those positive developments had on public safety and perception of the police cannot have been reflected in this data, and may have painted a different picture.

“Perception is very different from reality, in some instances. As the report notes, dissatisfaction tends to correlate with a rise in murders. In fact, the murder rate in particular and violent crime overall have been on the decrease. The current homicide rate stands at 6.25% below the same time last year. Murders are down, but that’s not immediately reflected in public understanding.

“We will continue to use NOCC surveys and others like it as a means evaluate public perception and improve our performance.”

Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s office issued WDSU the following statement:

This survey is another example that the hard work we’ve put in to reforming the NOPD and improving safety in every neighborhood over the past seven years is paying off. While our team is always looking at areas where we can improve, I applaud Chief Harrison and the men and women of the NOPD for their sacrifice, strong commitment to community policing, and dedication to making each neighborhood safer. The fact that 82% of citizens feel safe in their neighborhood validates the relentless hard work.

Since 2010, we have increased our investments in the NOPD by over $30 million per year to ensure an increase in officer pay, increase in technology like crime cameras and license plate readers and an increase in the number of police cars to improve visibility throughout the city. Compared to when we came into office, the NOPD is now better paid, better trained, better managed, and far better equipped to make our city safer.

Fred Johnson, Jr. a chairman for HousingNOLA said last year their study ranked New Orleans housing with a B; this year it got a C.

"The C came back because when we and the collaborative of organizations did the study with respect to all of the entities that provide housing across the city of New Orleans, we found there was less policy and less money,” Johnson said.

A spokesperson for the city said they have produced plenty of affordable housing projects. They also noted millions of dollars in projects were not part of the study as they are finalizing contracts.

"When people are living in poverty and living in harsh conditions, that perpetuates crime like you would not believe,” Johnson said.

To view the full study on NOPD click here.

To view the full study on affordable housing click here.

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