At the Olive Branch Cafe in Algiers on Monday afternoon, customers placed orders at a new granite counter and sat at freshly refinished tables beside new windows. The remodel came courtesy of a speeding vehicle that crashed into the eatery in May, ripping through its porch and a brick wall before coming to rest near a cash register.
“My first thought was, ‘An 18-wheeler must have hit a car.’ And then I saw a piece of the building flying,” said assistant manager Richard Nguyen.
On Monday, Nguyen was encouraged by the presence of New Orleans police officers who had set up a speed trap near the restaurant. The metal heel plates on officers’ boots clacked against asphalt as they aimed Stalker XS Lidar speed guns at oncoming traffic. Within five minutes, they had pulled over three drivers, including one in a brown truck clocked at 48 mph in the 35 mph zone and another in a blue Honda traveling 56 mph.
“I hate to say it, but it’s like fishing in a barrel,” said the New Orleans Police Department’s traffic commander, Captain Buddy Micheu.
The speed trap is part of a broader shift in traffic enforcement that has accelerated amid a yearslong, citywide decline in violent crime. As of July 15, the city had logged 45 homicides, according to NOPD, a nearly 70% decline from three years ago. Total year-to-date crime incidents were down 42% since 2023, the city’s public safety dashboard shows…