Want a lower crime rate in Louisiana? Get smart on crime and adopt reforms like these other states.

Since the record highs during the pandemic, Louisiana crime rates are beginning to trend down. Recent data show good news: Murders are on the decline across the U.S as well in some of Louisiana’s largest cities. Baton Rouge has seen a 22% drop in murders this year, and New Orleans has seen a 24% decline. This is really great news for the Pelican state. Shreveport, however, has failed to make such improvements, where murder has increased 40% in the last year.

What can we do to continue these trends in Baton Rouge and New Orleans (and the rest of the state), and to reverse the trend in Shreveport?  We can take a few lessons from what is working in other states.

Oklahoma and Washington State have implemented improved policing policies that have proven to work.

Oklahoma is focusing on local law enforcement and community-based crime reduction initiatives. In 2012, Oklahoma passed the “Safe Oklahoma Grant” which awarded more than $2 million in local grants in 2023.  This program is focused on evidence-based policing through intervention and enforcement through increased patrols, “hot spot” policing, and youth and gang interventions to help prevent crime. The funds can also be used on technology and increasing analytical capacity so local police can pinpoint where to focus these interventions, and to help solve crime more effectively. This grant also focuses on the use of community engagement activities to deter crime in priority areas.

Washington State has implemented “hot spot” strategies in community policing, targeting additional officers in high crime areas, while also concentrating these extra resources on “problem-oriented policing” where law enforcement tailors solutions in certain “hot spot” areas based on the particular issues in that area.

South Carolina passed a legislative package in 2010 that reduced recidivism, which occurs when offenders re-commit crime and are sent back to prison. Recidivism is a large contributor to the crime rate, with 30% of those released returning to prison within three years. These reforms focused on common sense sentencing reforms, improving education and reentry programming, improving community supervision, and establishing improved and ongoing oversight.

The reforms Louisiana implemented in 2017 included some of these reforms, such as education and reentry programming and improved community supervision, but lacked meaningful sentencing reforms and sufficient oversight for the implementation of these programs. Louisiana should continue to work toward these goals that have proven success rates in not just South Carolina, but also in 29 other states that have implemented similar policies over the last 15 years.

Louisiana can improve its crime rate through proven community policing practices to prevent crime and solve it more efficiently when it does occur. We can also build on the successes of previous reforms by improving their oversight and implementation, as well as enacting meaningful sentencing reforms.