Yes, 50 homicides in Shreveport last year. And some say that four of the six homicides which were ruled to be “justified” should be classified with the others—or 54 regular, unjustified homicides in all. 

Shreveport Mayor Ollie Tyler advised the City Council on January 23 that the 2017 overall crimes rates exceed 2016 totals. She hung her political hat on the crime issue by saying that the crime rates for the last 3 months of 2017 were “trending down”.

The mayor and the Shreveport Police Department repeat the same mantras.

“One murder is too many.”

“Most murders are crimes of passion that can not be policed.  You can have a police officer on every corner and that will not stop these type of killings.”

“New (secret) strategies are in place that will yield results soon.”

And the one that is most unacceptable, is that “murders are down from the high 10 years ago.”

New York City recently reported that violent crime including murders dropped in 2017 for the 27th straight year.  This despite population gains in a city now numbering over seven million.

Los Angeles County reported a dip of 20.5 percent in murders in 2017.

Baltimore has the nation’s highest murder rates.  In mid January the Baltimore mayor name a new police chief.

Ollie Tyler has been mayor for over 3 years.  Her handpicked police chief has been in office for a year.  The former chief served at the mayor’s pleasure.

And murders have increased yearly since Tyler took office.

Shreveport voters will go to the polls in November to decide the next Mayor.

Shreveport’s crime rates, and the public perception of crime, should be a factor in voter selection of the next Mayor.  Politics aside, one can only hope that the crime rates for 2018 will have a substantial improvement between now and election day.

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