NEW ORLEANS -- A newly formed crime unit in the New Orleans Police Department called Operation TIGER is focused on tackling armed robberies.
It's most recently it is credited for catching two people accused of trying to rob a Lakeview restaurant at gunpoint.
“He’s shooting, it’s time for me to roll,” said an employee at Lakeview Harbor Restaurant remembering the robbery attempt. The man asked not to be identified. He ran from the kitchen to warn his manager when armed robbers caught on surveillance video forced their way into the restaurant a week ago.
Days later a break in the case happened when two suspects were arrested. New Orleans Police are crediting a newly formed crime fighting unit for getting the job done.
"We made two arrests in the Lakeview attempted armed robbery and attempted murder,” said NOPD Special Operations Division Commander Bryan Lampard.
Lampard is in charge of NOPD’s Special Operations Division which includes Operation TIGER (Tactical Intelligence Gathering and Enforcement Response). Created back in June to take a more panoramic view of robberies across the city, Lampard confirmed the unit is making significant strides.
“We’ve been responsible for the arrest of 13 individuals in the roughly month that we've been in existence with those 13 individuals, we've linked them to 30 robberies that they've been booked with,” added Lampard.
While the NOPD is making some progress WWL-TV Crime Analyst Jeff Asher maintains armed robberies are still on the uptick.
"Between 2010 and 2015, there was a 50% jump in robberies that includes armed and simple robberies, robberies without a weapon,” said Asher.
He said those numbers rise and fall depending on officer manpower in the department.
Asher explained how one zip code in the city is seeing its fair share of robberies.
“70117 is the zip code that's seen the most armed robberies than any zip code in this city this year. It’s around 66 armed robberies this year,” added Asher.
Crime Operation TIGER is working around the clock to combat, hoping to prevent others from falling victim to armed robberies like this restaurant employee.
"Crime is crime. I don't know what to tell you man. I just hope it doesn't happen where I'm at,” said the Lakeview Harbor Restaurant employee.
TIGER is made up of detectives, tactical officers and members of the Special Operations Division.