New Orleans Crime Hotspots

Jacob Holub

Before hurricane Katrina, New Orleans had a high murder rate, ranking at the highest number of
murders per-capita for any large city from 1990 on and peaking at a rate of 85 murders per
100,000 in 1994, the worst any city has ever reported. After the hurricane, shifting populations
and problems maintaining civil order made determining accurate crime rates difficult- but by any
estimate the city is still posting the highest murder rate in the nation. In 2009, New Orleans Police
Department (NOPD) reported 174 murders, and using an estimated average population of
335,000 or so they ended up with a rate of 50.2 murders per 100,000 residents, still ten times
higher than the national average. (NOPD, 2009 Yearly Crime Statistics, 2010)

Tourists are often told to stay in the safe French quarter, and by breaking down the number of
violent crimes and murders by police district, this common wisdom is somewhat confirmed. The
NOPD 8th district that covers the central business core of the city and the French Quarter only
reported seven murders in 2009, although the reported number of other violent crimes was 271 in
total, one of the highest in the city, which somewhat refutes the idea that you are safe in this
area. The 1st and 5th districts in a zone of transition to the north of the core were the most
murderous and violent, reporting the highest number of murders and violent crimes in the city
with 69 murders and over 700 violent crimes reported between the two areas. The 3rd district,
furthest to the north and adjacent to Lake Pontchartrain (one of the worst areas hit by flooding in
2005) is also relatively safe from violent crime, reporting only 158 incidents all year with only
seven homicides. The large 4th district south of the Mississippi river was also one of the safer
parts of the city posting the fewest violent crimes of all districts. (NOPD, Crime Maps, 2010)

Looking at one category of non violent crime, auto thefts, the same pattern still holds: with the
1st and 5th districts posting higher then average numbers then most of the city, and the 3rd and
4th districts posting the fewest. For auto thefts however, there is a significant deviation in the 7th
district, the large Eastern and suburban part of the city, where auto thefts were the highest
posted in all the city, probably due to the fact that the residents here have more wealth and are
likely to have more valuable automobiles then the residents of the more urban neighborhoods.
(NOPD, Crime Maps, 2010)

Sources

New Orleans Police Department. (2010). 2009 Yearly Crime Statistics. Retrieved 6/19/2010 from
http://www.cityofno.com/pg-50-141-2009-yearly-crime-statistics.aspx

New Orleans Police Department. (2010). Crime Maps. Retrieved 6/19/2010 from http://cno-
gisweb02.cityofno.com/crimeviewer/