New Orleans Police Forced To Hire Civilians During Crime Surge | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the The Daily Wire. The author of this post is Dillon Burroughs.

    The New Orleans Police Department has turned to hiring civilians to fill staffing needs as it faces ongoing violent crime in the city.

    New Orleans mayoral candidate Laura Rodrigue shared the concern during an interview on Fox News's "Fox & Friends First" on Tuesday.

    "Resorting to hiring civilians to respond to crime scenes is alarming to the residents and should be alarming throughout the country," Rodrigue said. "They came out and said that civilians will be responding to non-emergency calls that come in through 911."

    Rodrigue noted that more than 100 calls in the city for alleged rape were classified as non-emergency over the last year.

    "The problem with that is within the last year, NOPD received over 100 calls for first-degree rape, first-degree rape being the most serious rape in Louisiana, carrying a mandatory life sentence, and they classified those as non-emergency," she explained.

    "So that should be alarming to people to think that a case or a call that comes in for something serious could be classified as non-emergency," Rodrigue added.

    The city's police department reportedly lost 150 officers last year. The drop has forced the city to turn to civilians in its effort to respond to non-emergency calls and fill administrative roles.

    The department has also rolled back some requirements to enlist in the civilian program, including dismissing past marijuana usage. Credit scores will also no longer be part of the hiring process. However, a standard drug test remains required.

    The NOPD will hire up to 75 civilians to respond to selected calls, according to a Thursday press conference by city police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson.

    "As we take calls over the phone, there may be some evidence that needs to be collected with that call," Ferguson said. "We'll have civilian investigators to go out and collect that evidence instead of an officer having to go out there and collect that evidence."

    In addition to the civilian program, many officers work 12-hour shifts, adding further strain on current officers and potentially discouraging future recruits, according to WDSU News.

    As The Daily Wire previously reported, although New Orleans spends $570 per resident on its police budget, second only to New York City, it continues to face staffing problems. The NOPD is now under 1,000 officers for the first time in decades.

    The report comes as New Orleans recently passed St. Louis as the murder capital of the nation for the first half of 2022.

    The city saw 41 murders per 100,000 people in the first six months of the year, a 141% increase over 2019, according to an analysis by the Wall Street Journal. The murder rate is almost four times the level of Chicago and nearly 20 times the rate in New York City.

poll#162

In what may be the most divisive period in modern American History, even more divisive than the turbulent sixties due to today's lack of patriotism, consider what are the major catalysts causing so much of this calamity of conflict, and vote: What most instigates the division of America, on this day September 20, 2022?

  Racism within our society

  Sex realignment to the detriment of our society.

  Biden /Harris Wide Open Southern Border Policy for the Demographic Upheaval of OUR Constitutional Republic

  Rampant Crime in Democratic controlled cities, and the possible contagion elsewhere

  Covid Pandemic, and its mishandling at the political, and bureaucratic levels.

  The unresolved questions /allegation regarding the flawed 2020 General Election

  January 6th Riot or "Armed Insurrection", depending upon patriotic perspective

  Joe Biden as Divisive Leader; Ineffective and Corrupt Executive

  Failed Education Industry, from an overall perspective, regarding all levels of education.

  Propagandistic Media in complete conflict with the First Amendment's guarantee of Freedom of Speech, and the awesome responsibility of a Free Press..

  "Orangeman Bad!"

  Bureaucracy rushing to a behemoth size, its unjustified expense, and far too often overreach.

  The Weaponized Deep State for political purposes

  A secular ambivalence to all that is real.

  Record number of overdose deaths from opioids and now Fentanyl

  Biden Administration's disastrous Foreign Policy

  Bidenflation /supply chain failure inevitably evolving into stagflation and recession.

  "Ultra MAGA Extremists" freely speaking louder AND LOUDER!

928 total vote(s)     What's your Opinion?

poll#154

Inarguably, the policies of the Democrats in congress and Joe Biden as the Executive is plunging the United States into a recession, if we are not already there; a recession that was completely avoidable. Will abrupt changes in policies occur in time?

  Yes, the Democrats have a bold plan, yet to be revealed, to save us.

  No, there will have to be a complete undoing of the damage done by these Democrats.

  I can't do simple math, so how am I to understand the concept of basic economics.

1,216 total vote(s)     What's your Opinion?