NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) –– The New Orleans Crime Lab and Department of Criminal Justice Coordination will receive over $3 million to enhance evidence processing and implement intervention programs to address root causes of crime.
Local and federal officials, including Mayor Latoya Cantrell, New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick, crime lab director Dr. Shamika Kelley and Congressman Troy Carter, met at the crime lab Friday morning to make the announcement.
$2.7 million is going to the crime lab to purchase equipment, something Carter said will “make sure that we have cases that stick, that can make it all the way through the criminal justice system.” But to do that, “We have to have the technology, we have to have the science.”
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina severely damaged the lab, which led to outsourcing evidence testing to the Louisiana State Police.
“Evidence processing is indeed an integral component of the criminal legal process,” said Kelley. But backlogs in testing could mean delays in justice. To date, LSP reports 748 cases in the backlog. However, 495 of them have been outsourced to another lab for testing.
Kelley is confident that will soon change. “We want to make sure that it’s done with precision and expediency, and that is what this funding is going to do.”
NOPD is among many law enforcement agencies experiencing staffing shortages, and while the department has made strides in recruitment, it is not the only solution. “Fighting crime takes more than just manpower. It takes special tools, equipment, and programs like violence intervention, which reach into the community and work on the root causes of violence and crime,” said Superintendent Kirkpatrick.
$963,000 will go to the city’s Office of Criminal Justice Coordination’s Violence Intervention Program. The funding will be used to support program staff, including specialists in cognitive behavioral therapy, case management, community outreach, and project management.
Carter said mental health plays a significant role in reducing crime, “Mental health and criminal activity is very interconnected. We have to treat the young men and women that we see on the street corners, that some suggest are just bums; many of these people are suffering.”
The crime lab is set for completion by 2027.
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