Last year, New Orleans earned a rather unfortunate title, the Murder Capital of the nation. Last week, the city reached another sad milestone, the unenviable position of Crime Capital of the United States. The CQ Press report placed New Orleans as the most violent city in the country. The report used crime statistics in seven major categories and calculated the rates based on population figures. Although CQ Press used a disputed 2007 population estimate of New Orleans, a higher census figure would not have changed the ranking of New Orleans as the Crime Capital.

This designation will certainly not help the city recruit business or lure conventions. It will give people another reason to leave New Orleans. Since 1960, New Orleans has lost half of its population. In the early part of the century, New Orleans was the third largest city in the nation, while today it is ranked as the 60th largest city. While Hurricane Katrina contributed to the population decline, other factors like a high crime rate have led people to leave New Orleans for the past four decades.

The leadership vacuum in New Orleans gives no one a reason to move to New Orleans. It is clear that the city is not properly governed. Mayor Nagin has become a laughingstock who uses the issue of race to divide the city, emulating controversial figures like Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan. Last week, Nagin attended a speech given by Farrakhan despite the minister’s hateful comments about whites, Jews and Catholics. Recently, Nagin inaccurately portrayed comments of council member Stacy Head as “crude race baiting.” Even though he knew Head did not make racist remarks, Nagin refused to apologize. When former Orleans Parish District Attorney Harry Connick called for the firing of Police Chief Warren Riley, Nagin responded by claiming the NOPD leader had an “impeccable” record. Under Riley’s watch, crime has soared in New Orleans and the dysfunctional department has been embarrassed by misconduct among officers. There is also the nagging problem of the property and evidence room. WDSU-TV Channel 6 did an expose on the situation and discovered criminal evidence was being mishandled and not properly stored, yet Riley declined to accept responsibility for this crisis. To make matters worse, $19,000 in cash was stolen from the property and evidence room, yet Riley had the gall to blame the problems on Hurricane Katrina. Without properly stored evidence, it is difficult or impossible to prosecute cases, so new District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro may have to deal with even more problems than he realizes.

Like his boss Ray Nagin, Chief Riley never accepts responsibility for his failings. When asked about the designation of New Orleans as the Crime Capital of the United States, Riley blamed the bad public schools and the poverty in the city. Yet, other cities have poor school systems and economic distress, yet are not seeing a massive increase in crime.

During the 1990’s, Richard Pennington was a very effective Police Chief of New Orleans. In that period, innovative strategies were implemented such as community policing and public housing substations. When Nagin was elected as Mayor and replaced Pennington as Police Chief, it was the first in a long line of mistakes. Sadly, today, Nagin refuses to take the corrective action at the NOPD that could improve the safety of each citizen of New Orleans.

So, New Orleans is not only stuck with Riley and Nagin for another 18 months, the city is stuck with incompetence, a poor image and a high crime rate as well. The February 2010 election for Mayor of New Orleans cannot get here soon enough.  

Jeff Crouere, a native of New Orleans and resident of Mandeville, is host of a Louisiana-based program, “Ringside Politics,” which airs at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and 10 p.m. Sundays on WLAE-TV 32, a PBS station, and 7-11 a.m. weekdays on WGSO 990 AM on the Northshore. For more information, visit his Web site at www.ringsidepolitics.com. E-mail him at jeff@ringsidepolitics.com.