NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — As violent crime continues to surge in our city, tempers are flaring between the District Attorney Jason Williams and NOPD’s Superintendent Shaun Ferguson, as to what to do about it, and who’s to blame for the problems.
District Attorney Jason Williams and NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson are facing off over violent crime and how to tackle it, and it needs to be tackled. So far this year there’s been almost a homicide a day.
“Yesterday the Chief said from a law enforcement perspective he’s making arrests and the NOPD’s job ends there, and that’s not the way law enforcement and justice works,” Williams said.
Although Williams recognizes the hard work of the NOOPD, especially during a pandemic and with an officer shortage, he says the NOPD needs to make more arrests, provide more evidence, and ultimately solve more crimes.
“The FBI data in 2020 showed that the NOPD only solved 30 percent of murders, 35 percent of armed robberies, and 8 percent of car thefts,” Williams stated.
Williams went on to say, “It is not something to bicker about or have hurt feelings about. It is an accurate diagnosis. That percentage must go up.”
“This is not the District Attorney vs. the Chief of NOPD, this is about the safety of our city. Finger pointing will not get us anywhere. I don’t do that my mother taught me that if you point a finger at someone, guess what you have a thumb pointing right back at you,” NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said.
Rather than finger pointing, Supt. Ferguson wants to focus on action.
“We have an issue within our criminal justice system with holding criminal responsible. We are not as incompetent as some are trying to say we stand strong, firm, we know what we are doing,” he said.
Chief Ferguson praised his officers for in 2021 with an 18 percent increase in homicides, they had a 53 percent solve rate.
Also, last year the DA’s office and the NOPD were working together on a crime prevention and prosecution task force. So far both sides have not agreed to the terms and funding for the partnership.