NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Fall festival season has arrived and tourists started taking over the French Quarter again. But for one person, the trip to the Big Easy became costly.
“He was like ‘yeah, $200 more and you can go home.’ So, we went back to my apartment, I gave him my headphones and we just left it at that,” said one tourist who wished to remain anonymous.
In the last two weeks, there have been seven robberies just in the French Quarter. That had tourists concerned.
“Bourbon Street is nothing like I expected,” said another unnamed tourist. “[It was] way sketchier than I was expecting. We had drugs offered to us every block, prostitutes, it was just different.”
However, violent crime began to trend down since the NOPD restructured the department.
In the two weeks since more officers were put back on the street, the NOPD only reported 5 murders. In those two weeks in 2021, there were 12.
“We are moving or trending in the right direction because of the things we put into place with our DART, with our administrative officers pivoting and supporting patrol in the field, as well as our investigators being more active in regards to calls for service,” Supt. Shaun Ferguson said Tuesday.
Before that, the department was also facing morale issues. According to Supt. Ferguson, that also has started to improve.
“I think we’re at a critical moment, a pivotal moment where we start to see the tides change in the right direction,” Supt. Ferguson said. “Now, it’s just about getting those tides to continue to go in the right direction.”
Watch the full NOPD press conference in the player below.
FULL PRESS CONFERENCE: NOPD talks recent arrests, trends in NOLA crime
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