NEW ORLEANS — It happened again. This time, car burglars hit Uptown New Orleans.
Thursday night, at least seven cars were targeted on one street. Gordon Russell, with the New Orleans Advocate posted a picture of his car on twitter saying, "my lucky number came up last night."
"We are just as frustrated as the citizens. We just have figure out ways as a city government, as a law enforcement agency as to how we can hold these individuals accountable," said Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson.
Initially, we sat down with Ferguson to talk about his first year as police chief, but with auto break-ins up an estimated 160% since 2015, Ferguson knew he had to address an issue that's become widespread.
"Right now, as an agency, we need to get this auto burglary thing under control. That is a top priority," said Chief Ferguson.
While the city's murder rate has been decreasing in recent years, 2019 was significant. There were 119 murders last year, the lowest in almost 50 years. That took place with Ferguson as police chief. Now, many are looking to him to reduce property crimes.
His predecessor established the “TIGER” task force to tackle armed robberies when that crime got out of hand. We pressed Ferguson on his strategy for car break-ins. We asked Ferguson if he felt it was time a similar task force should be established for auto burglaries.
“So, TIGER has been instrumental to doing that as well. They have been assisting the districts with that. I still feel comfortable, and I think our district captains have been doing a phenomenal job addressing (auto burglaries). The arrests speak for themselves," said Ferguson.
That didn't seem to be the case this week when many Lakeview residents vented frustration about property crime in their neighborhood. Before that, it was people in New Orleans East.
Ferguson said to reduce car break-ins, his officers must be more visible. He said covert operations were also taking place, but Ferguson said he needs help from the criminal justice system, which he said has been releasing repeat offenders.
"Even if incarceration is not the answer there should be some sort of accountability fact to let them know there are consequences to their actions," said Ferguson.
A consequence of being police chief has been coming under scrutiny, and Ferguson accepts that. He also accepts the fact that more people have been talking about auto burglaries at a time when the city has seen less violence.
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