NEW ORLEANS — In anticipation that crime in New Orleans will continue to increase this summer, New Orleans Police are launching a new operation dubbed "Operation Golden Eagle."
It will include a familiar partner in Louisiana State Police, but there are some unique elements and circumstances with this latest joint effort.
The new operation officially starts next week on June 1. The NOPD is not revealing how many state troopers will be part of this new operation, but New Orleans Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said their help comes at a critical time.
“We have seen increases in homicides. We’ve seen increases in non-fatal shootings. We have seen increases in carjackings,” Chief Ferguson said.
In those three categories of violent crime alone there are significant double-digit percentage increases from this time last year, according to the data from the New Orleans City Council dashboard on crime. New Orleans Police claim a 60 percent clearance rate in cases, but Chief Ferguson gave a sobering counterpoint.
“We’ve made arrests in each of these cases and as we continue to make these arrests we still did not see a significant change,” Ferguson said.
There’s now going to be a change of strategy through Operation Golden Eagle. Louisiana State Troopers will be added to patrols. Unlike previous partnerships with state police, troopers will be in neighborhoods and not just exclusively in the French Quarter.
“We will be concentrating on violent crime. Therefore, the areas that we see an increase in criminal activity will be our main focus in this initiative,” Ferguson said.
Ferguson said illegal drag races seen in New Orleans East and on Claiborne Avenue will also be a target of the operation.
We’ve seen state troopers come in during big events and during times that the NOPD has struggled with staffing shortages, but everyone involved in this joint operation is aware of the scrutiny state police are currently under.
The deadly 2019 arrest of Ronald Greene is under federal investigation. Body camera video shows several Louisiana State Troopers tasing, beating and dragging the black suspect. As the city prepares to have state troopers on neighborhood streets, there are pledges of doing it all by the book.
“We have not seen that behavior with our partners nor do we accept that, not just from Louisiana State Police, but any agency that works with the New Orleans Police Department,” Ferguson said.
“This partnership didn’t happen overnight. Our department has been sitting side by side with NOPD commanders and senior staff planning this operation to bring positive results and a safer community to the city of New Orleans. We are and we will hold every trooper, every personnel assigned to this department accountable for their actions,” said Lt. Colonel Chavez Cammon of the Louisiana State Police.
Another point made at Thursday's news conference by Mayor LaToya Cantrell and the police chief was the need for improvements in the criminal justice system. They said the city can’t arrest its way out of the current crime situation. Cantrell and Ferguson said criminals must also be prosecuted and punished to avoid what they called a “revolving door” for offenders.
Operation Golden Eagle is until late August.