New Orleans police officers go easy on small-time offenders

A story in the Los Angeles Times notes that everyday citizens and tourists who may be guilty of some minor infractions but who aren’t contributing to New Orleans’ scourge of violent crime might no longer see the inside of the notorious Orleans Parish Prison. The newspaper reports that in recent months, police, prosecutors and politicians have taken steps to put fewer minor offenders behind bars, in the hope that will free up resources to attack more serious crime. The initiative culminated in city ordinances passed this month that give officers the option of handing out court summonses to anyone suspected of prostitution or marijuana possession, in lieu of hauling them off to jail. And cutting them some slack represents a major philosophical shift for a city that has the nation’s highest per capita jail detention rate but has struggled to rein in its most serious crimes. This year, New Orleans is on track to have the nation’s highest per capita murder rate. To read the full story, click here.