NEW ORLEANS — Results from a survey by the New Orleans Crime Coalition showed three out of four citizens don't feel safe in the city.
The survey was conducted via phone interviews with 800 adults in the city of New Orleans in the first week of June. 59% of respondents were African-American and 33% were Caucasian with the remaining 8 percent categorized as 'other.'
When asked about their overall satisfaction with the New Orleans Police Department, just 33% of respondents said they were satisfied, a 19-point drop from the previous year.
In the survey, 84% of respondents said they believe that crime is getting worse, a 10-point increase from 2021.
When asked to rate the NOPD's performance in specific categories such as solving murders, responding quickly to emergency calls, and investigating burglaries, the percentage of positive ratings dropped in every category compared to the previous year.
The percentage reporting 'poor' was higher than the positive percentage in all seven categories.
The 75% of respondents who feel New Orleans is not safe is a 10-point interest from 2021 results where 65% of respondents felt unsafe in the city.
When asked if police brutality and misconduct had changed over the years, 53% of respondents said it was the same, 24% said it has decreased and 16% say it has decreased.
However, positive ratings on performance standards in three categories (force, honesty, ethics) all declined from the previous year.
There was not a significant racial or gender disparity in any of the survey results, the report claims, as results were generally similar regardless of demographic.
Respondents heavily favored increased crime-fighting resources.
92% supported improving the department's capacity to better investigate and solve crimes, 91% supported increasing police pay to help recruit and retain officers, and 90% supported increasing the number of social and counseling programs to reduce crime.
“While residents are deeply troubled by the level in crime in the city and are less satisfied with the NOPD than they have been in years, they are not anti-police,” said professor and Crime Coalition chairman Dr. Michael Cowan in a press release. “In fact, a considerable majority of residents want more resources invested in law enforcement, including better pay for officers, increased legal use of crime-solving technologies and tools, strengthened investigations, and more manpower to patrol neighborhoods.”
"We’re at a crossroads. To turn the corner and effectively stop violent crime and protect the public, the city must take specific actions and increase the NOPD’s budget for officer retention and recruitment and enhance crime-fighting technologies.”
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