This is what we know. There is a relationship between poverty and crime. Cities with low crime rates typically share strong economic health, robust social support systems, highly effective and community-oriented policing and high levels of citizen engagement and education.
New Orleans isn’t economically healthy, but it does have a robust social support system, a police force moving in the direction of effective community-oriented policing and citizen engagement. The latest data tell us that crime in our city is declining. However, without all aspects of our city moving in lock step dealing with crime, the things we are good at are not enough. Bringing in the National Guard may have a short-term effect on crime; however, cost and other factors dictate that, as a crime reduction strategy, it’s like the NFL, not for long. For myriad reasons, we can’t operate the National Guard in our cities as a crime reduction strategy.
However, this is an opportunity for us to have a real conversation about crime. This conversation must begin with the realization that the criminal justice system alone cannot reduce crime. No matter how well the parts of the criminal justice system operate, it cannot reduce crime…