Fox 8 Exclusive: Mayor Cantrell says the city is on a ‘strong path forward’ towards fighting crime

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Mayor LaToya Cantrell of New Orleans said Thursday (June 16) that the city is on a “strong path forward,” echoing her administration’s efforts toward fighting crime and dismissing the notion that the city is on pace to have homicide numbers comparable to the 1990s.

When asked what the biggest issue in the city is, Mayor Cantrell said she has been listening to the public and agrees it is public safety.

The city announced Wednesday the allocation of $155 million in federal dollars, identifying key areas for the money to go toward, including $42 million toward the NOPD Training Academy and DNA Crime Lab, as well as new police cars and ambulances, specialty equipment for NOEMS, and replacement of the Fire Station Alerting System.

“I would say right now that public safety is a priority and is one for the public of this community, and I would say that resources are being made available just yesterday even, announcing the second allocation of the ARPA dollars that I fought very hard for this city to receive that direct allocation,” Cantrell said.

Cantrell brushed off the notion that the city is on pace to have the deadliest year since the 1990s, when the population of the city was roughly 100,000 people higher.

“That’s not true at all,” Cantrell said. “You can look at the pace now, the pace now is not the full year. I think that looking at the data from month to month, week to week, you can see areas and signs of true progress based on the key arrests police officers have made. Relative to our trends, no way. No way. I remember being here, ‘95, absolutely, 400 murders, close to 500. That is not where the City of New Orleans is, and that is not where the City of New Orleans is going.”

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