When Jeff LeDuff’s retirement from the Baton Rouge Police Department was announced in late October, members of the Metro Council and law enforcement community lauded the chief on the masterful job he’d done during his six-year tenure.
But there was more than a little irony to the praise. No one disputed that LeDuff is dedicated, hard-working and a genuinely nice person, but he presided over BRPD during a time in which the city saw its murder rate increase 60%; crime in other categories also climbed, just not as dramatically.
What’s more, the city in recent months has experienced some of the most vicious and senseless murders in its history: the early morning home invasion in Beauregard Town that left a single mother dead and her 9-year-old daughter seriously injured from multiple gunshot wounds; the murder of a teenage boy on the downtown levee during a night out with friends; and the slaying of an elderly man who had gone outside to pick up his newspaper.
In the wake of those crimes, LeDuff—and members of the media—have quickly pointed out that while those killings are particularly heinous and high profile, crime for the first nine months of this year has not matched 2009 levels. In some categories, it’s even decreased.
With respect to crime, 2009 was one of the worst years on record for Baton Rouge, which now ranks No. 6 nationally in the number of murders per capita. Has the community become so anesthetized to violence that keeping a record-high murder rate from worsening is considered an accomplishment?
“I guess the question is, What is our tolerance level?” says Sid Newman, director of the Crime Stoppers program. “Are we willing to accept 2009 as our benchmark? Because if so, that’s not saying much.”
Newman’s question is particularly relevant as the Holden administration begins its search for a new police chief. If the outgoing chief did such a great job—for argument’s sake, let’s say he did—what should the community expect of his successor, and what should it be looking for in a new chief?
Experts say there is only so much a police chief can do in the fight against crime. But, they also say, the search for LeDuff’s successor should be national in scope and aim to bring in an extraordinary individual who will not only use cutting-edge techniques, but be willing to work more collaboratively with other law enforcement agencies, something BRPD has not traditionally been able to count among its strengths.
“Collaboration is the key,” says Rafael Goyeneche, who heads the Metropolitan Crime Commission in New Orleans. “In the past, law enforcement has been very territorial. But criminals don’t follow boundaries.”
Less crime, more fear
Neither LeDuff nor his immediate successor, Interim Chief Charles Mondrick, would agree to be interviewed for this story. In brief remarks at a recent Metro Council meeting, LeDuff reiterated that crime in 2010 is no worse than last year.
Between January and June, murders were down within the city of Baton Rouge by 3%, when compared with the first six months of 2009. The number of robberies and aggravated assaults also fell slightly, and the number of rapes was unchanged. Only burglary had increased, by a marked 10%.
East Baton Rouge Parish’s numbers are similar. In unincorporated parts of the parish that are under the jurisdiction of the Sheriff’s Office, crime rates this year have been equal to or less than 2009 levels in every category except burglary.
“The crime rate is not up this year, but there is more fear in the community,” says Edward Shihadeh, a professor of criminology in LSU’s Department of Sociology. “Fear is never really related to the crime rate; it’s related to the types of crime and the amount they get covered by the media.”
But the root of the crime problem is more than perception and fear. Statistics show that Baton Rouge has become more dangerous than it was as recently as six years ago. Since 2004, crime inside the city limits—especially violent crime—has been on an upward trajectory. In 2004, there were 47 murders in the city in the entire year. In the first six months of this year, there already were 37. By year’s end, that number is projected to be on par with the 2009 total of 75—60% more than six years ago.
Crime in most other categories also has been gradually increasing. Robbery, burglary and aggravated assault are all on the rise. But in the unincorporated parts of the parish, the results are a little more encouraging. Crime in the first half of this year showed no significant increase over the same period in 2004. The number of violent crimes outside the city limits, however, often is so small as to be statistically insignificant.
“While the short-term crime rate is not any higher, long term it’s a different story,” Shihadeh says. “In the city, our murder rate has nearly doubled since 2004; unless our population has doubled—which it hasn’t—that’s a problem.”
Adding to the problem is that violent crimes seem to be more violent and more random. More troubling, they’re being committed by younger and more brazen perpetrators.
“We’re seeing more violent kids than ever before, and we’ve transferred more of them than ever before to adult facilities,” says District Attorney Hillar Moore, who has transferred 15 juvenile offenders to adult prisons this year alone. “That’s a lot.”
Two-pronged approach
It’s not that law enforcement officials don’t know where the criminals are or how to catch them. Sophisticated policing techniques and weekly CompStat meetings, which break down crime statistics block by block, help police officers and sheriff deputies know where the most dangerous areas are and, in many cases, who is perpetrating the crimes.
Law enforcement officials know that two-thirds of the murders over the past three years have occurred in five ZIP codes, and that 70805—roughly bordered by Plank Road, Airline Highway and Choctaw Drive—is the deadliest of all. They know the identities of the top 150 repeat offenders in the parish, which is significant because repeat offenders commit 80% of the crimes, even though they account for just 5% to 6% of the population.
They know community policing is an effective strategy that involves getting more officers walking the beats and getting to know the people in the neighborhoods. And they know that picking up some of the 120,000 offenders in East Baton Rouge Parish with outstanding warrants—a number that doesn’t include traffic offenders—will help reduce incidence of violent crime in some cases.
“It’s a two-pronged approach that lets people know we’re there,” says East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Sid Gautreaux, whose deputies have cleared 1,000 outstanding warrants this year. “But it also enables us to do a lot of aggressive and innovative enforcement.”
So why the inability to gain a handle on crime in Baton Rouge?
Those on the front lines of the local public safety and criminal justice systems offer a litany of social ills: a culture of disenfranchised youth, exemplified by a 10% high school dropout rate; a $16,000 median household income in parts of north and central Baton Rouge that ranks as the lowest in the state; and a 67% recidivism rate, which means offenders are cycling through the system.
There are delays in the criminal justice system, the result of overworked judges and prosecutors, and overcrowded jails. Moore’s office has seen its caseload increase by 20% this year over last and by more than 60% over 2008. But he hasn’t been able to hire additional prosecutors to get the perpetrators through the system, which takes about one year on average.
And then there is a culture of witness intimidation, graphically illustrated with the recent release of a locally produced DVD, Thuggin It and Lovin It, Tha Sequel. The video opens with a man, wearing a T-shirt that reads “Mr. Tell On Everybody,” being shot and killed for snitching on people in the first film.
“Often we’re finding we have to arrest our own witnesses, and then they’re hostile,” Moore says. “It’s an issue we face every day.”
Legal bounds
So what’s a new chief to do? And what will the Holden administration look for in a candidate?
Mayor Kip Holden’s office declined an interview request. But Holden previously has said he will conduct a search similar to the one that resulted in LeDuff’s hiring six years ago; that process lasted several months, involved input from the business community and included a national search. Still, the three finalists were local candidates.
Former chief administrative officer Walter Monsour, who was actively involved in the previous search, believes it’s important to again cast a wide net, though it’s not imperative to hire someone from out of state.
“I’ve heard the mayor say that it should be a national search, and I agree,” Monsour says. “The ideal candidate would be someone who can bring a fresh set of eyes, but someone who is also familiar with the community.”
Yet law enforcement experts say familiarity with the community isn’t as important as a fresh perspective.
“If there’s an emerging violent crime problem,” Goyeneche says, “you might want to look around for an outside perspective on what can be done differently to affect and begin to harness and change the culture.”
Some officials believe part of that change must include more aggressive policing, but what that means at the beat cop level is theoretical at this point. Mayor Pro Tem Mike Walker would like to see the administration hire a chief with national experience, who is willing to test the legal limits of his authority to rein in criminals.
“The new chief has to be willing to come in here and turn his police officers loose and do whatever they have to do legally,” Walker says. “We want it to be so bad, criminals pack their bags. That’s the kind of attitude I’m looking for in a chief.”
And other officials say the new chief must work much more closely and collaboratively with other local law enforcement agencies, one area in which LeDuff receives praise.
“I’d count that as one of his accomplishments,” Moore says. “The city police and the sheriff actually began working together.”
Not everyone shares Moore’s opinion. Critics say BRPD still doesn’t play ball with other agencies.
Gautreaux says the police department has had little to do with his office’s Street Crime Abatement Unit. Over the past two years, the group of state and local law enforcement agencies has gone inside the city limits to round up targeted offenders, seizing weapons and drugs, and making about 900 arrests to date.
“We’ve had a lot of success, and it’s really been a combined effort,” he says. “But I’m not going to lie. We’ve had very little participation from the BRPD, and it hasn’t been because they haven’t been notified.”
Sgt. Don Kelly, a BRPD spokesman, says there are times when the department doesn’t have the manpower to spare because its call volume and caseload are significantly higher than other local agencies. But, he says, BRPD has participated in many joint operations and investigations with the sheriff’s office, and plans to continue to do so.
“One of the very first conversations Chief Mondrick had after taking the job was with the sheriff,” Kelly says. “They both pledged their full cooperation and commitment to continue to work together in every way possible, whenever we can.”
Whether the police department worked closely enough with fellow agencies under LeDuff, the new chief will have to do more of it, and at least one new initiative will make that job easier.
A group of local, state and federal agencies soon will be working together on a regular basis as part of a violent crime task force. They will share an office at State Police headquarters and, more important, also share information.
“We’ll all be solving crime for the entire city-parish and exchanging information,” says Moore, who helped organize the effort. “It’s the right thing to do, and there’s always a need for it.”
Ultimately, the new police chief only will be able to do so much. Support from the community, especially the business community, is critical to ensuring that the new chief is successful.
The New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation was founded by Crescent City business leaders in the mid-1990s, when the city’s murder rate was spiraling out of control. Since then, the organization has raised millions of dollars to support retirement and training for the department.
Baton Rouge leaders say everyone must step up if they want the new chief to succeed in the fight against crime.
“We need someone with the vision to engage the community,” Monsour says. “And then the community has to follow.”
