Local law enforcement officials are heartened by the latest crime statistics, which show there were no homicides in East Baton Rouge Parish during February. Though it’s a small victory in the effort to reduce violent crime, District Attorney Hillar Moore III says it’s a significant one.
“This is the first time that I can remember that we have had zero homicides in a month,” Moore says. “We’ve been making progress every year, so this is a good sign.”
Moore says several factors could be behind the drop in homicides, though he declines to pinpoint just one. Police Chief Carl Dabadie, however, attributes the reduction to the success of the Baton Rouge Area Violence Elimination initiative, known as BRAVE, which focuses on crime prevention in specific ZIP codes that are historically crime prone.
“I feel the reduced homicide numbers for the month of February are a direct result of the involvement of the public in assisting law enforcement with information we need to target the criminals in their neighborhoods,” Dabadie says. “With this information we are able to position our officers in areas where they can be the most effective.”
Law enforcement officials are cautious about reading too much good news into the February statistics. January, for instance, was a violent month with six homicides in the 31-day period. Though that’s fewer than the same period a year earlier, it’s still high. What’s more, February’s homicide-free streak came to an end in the wee hours of Sunday morning, March 1, when a Baton Rouge man was found shot to death in his front yard.
“I was afraid to jinx myself,” Moore says. “Sure enough, around 1:45 a.m. Sunday someone was killed.”
—Stephanie Riegel
