NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Figures released by New Orleans officials show overall crime down by just 1 percent in 2012 compared to 2011 — but they also show a significant drop in the final three months of last year.
Statistics released Friday show that for the fourth quarter of 2012, overall crime dropped 8 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2011. Fourth-quarter murders dropped by 18 percent. Rapes also were down by 18 percent in the fourth quarter while armed robberies and auto thefts dropped by about a third. Assault was up by 16 percent, however. And theft was up by 4 percent.
New Orleans' downward trend in the murder rate appears to be continuing, with 11 people killed in New Orleans in January, compared to 25 in January 2012.
