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Photo by Robin May Chief Jim Craft |
It was a year highlighted by the high-profile slaying of UL coed Mickey Shunick, budget cuts and internal discord between a mutinous group of disgruntled officers and higher ups within the department and Lafayette Consolidated Government.
"It was a tough year, especially coming off an all-time low in 2011,” says Craft, who spoke Thursday with The IND following the release of the 2012 crime data for the city of Lafayette.
The city’s homicide rate jumped 100 percent last year, going from six to 12 homicides between 2011 and 2012. Crime overall also rose in 2012, finishing the year 2.4 percent higher than in 2011.
“An anomaly? I hope it was,” Craft says of last year’s spike in homicides. “Homicides are such a random type of crime. They’re hard to predict.”
Craft points to his time working the homicide beat back in the 1980s, when homicides went from as low as three one year to 20 another. On average though, homicides typically stay between six and 10 a year, notes the chief.
There were some bright spots in 2012, says Craft. Those positives included year-to-year decreases in the number of reported rapes, robberies, assaults and auto thefts. The number of adults arrested also dropped between 2011 and 2012.
“Our biggest challenge in 2013 will be providing the same level of service the people of Lafayette are accustomed to, but with fewer people,” says Craft, adding the department is currently funded to fill its ranks with 258 armed officers and 64 civilian employees. “Because of budget cuts, we lost 10 full-time officers in November 2011, so it is going to be difficult providing that same level of service to the community.”
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| Courtesy of Lafayette PD | |
| A five-year look at Lafayette's overall crime rate. |
With less money and fewer officers on the street, Craft says relationships have been forged with other local law enforcement agencies, like the UL Police Department and the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office. Those relationships, coupled with the success of the department's existing strategy of putting more patrol cars in known high-crime areas gives the chief confidence in his department’s ability to keep on keeping the peace in the year's ahead.
Here’s a breakdown of the 9,346 crimes — a 2.4 percent increase from 2011 — that were reported within the Lafayette city limits in 2012:
Assault — 2,306 (Down 2.5 percent from 2011)
Auto Theft — 241 (Down 13 percent)
Burglary — 1,330 (Up 11 percent)
Homicide — 12 (Up 100 percent)
Rape — 11 (Down 27 percent)
Robbery — 202 (Down 13 percent)
Theft — 5,244 (Up 4 percent)
Juvenile Arrests — 1,177 (Up 3 percent)
Adult Arrests — 11,228 (Down 12 percent)
Calls for Service — 243,020 (Up 4 percent)
JUNE 17 If anyone ever wonders why Saints fans hate Atlanta with a capital H, here's a good indication. Radio "professionals" at an Atlanta station created an entire segment around making fun of former Saints player Steve Gleason, who is now paralyzed by ALS. Listen, nobody's ever accused DJs of being rocket scientists. But how could someone think it is amusing to pretend to ask a man with a degenerative, fatal disease if he will be alive next week? The DJs have been fired, and are now whining about how gutless their former bosses are. Wow.
JUNE 18 Here's the latest from the Advocate on the fatal hit-and-run accident allegedly involving the president of the Livingston Parish School Board. He's accused by police of hitting a 21-year-old man on a highway early Sunday and driving away. The man died at a hospital later. On Monday, police seized the president's truck and towed it away. But he's available for board meetings: apparently a $500 bond is sufficient for this type of thing over in St. Helena Parish.
JUNE 18 Former broadcast journalist Griffin Scott has posted this plea on his blog for financial assistance from his readers. Scott, who says he was fired after he wrote something fairly innocuous (for Facebook) on his wall, is suing a media giant for his job back. He's framed himself as David going after a bloated media giant, and he's probably not far off.
JUNE 18 Here's a fairly absurd column posted on DIG Magazine about the completely absurd practice of naming killer storms. Tornadoes don't have names. Blizzards don't have names. But hurricanes do, and there's a big process to bestow them, Jacques Cormery writes. He's right about the crazy assemblage of names -- this year, there's everything from Tanya to Humberto -- and his idea that we don't waste good names on killer storms is a good one.
JUNE 17 Political columnist John Maginnis has some advice for Louisiana Republicans: grow up. After the schism that occurred in this past session - fiscal hawks teaming up with Democrats to spank the Republican "majority" and hand Gov. Jindal his, er, aspirations for continued solon control -- they need to figure out how to get along with each other, Maginnis writes.
JUNE 17 Here's the Picayune's obit story for Dorothy 'Miss Dot' Domilise, the lady who made poboys at the uptown restaurant that bears her name. Miss Dot moved to New Orleans during World War II, where she met and married her husband Sam. When she passed away Friday she was 90, and had spent more than 60 of those years working at the restaurant on Annunciation Street.
JUNE 17 This editorial in the Advocate speaks in favor of the consent decrees that have federal judges overseeing police operations and the sheriff's parish prison in New Orleans. Mayor Landrieu and Sheriff Gusman can't get along, so outside forces, like the Inspector General and the judges, are needed to make sure things run right, the editorial opines.
JUNE 18 Here's a post from Manny Schewitz on Forward Progressives that is good for a chuckle. Manny had an epiphany back in November, and is sharing it with us today: he believes that Fox "News" is killing the GOP by pandering to right wing nuts. Now, don't get it twisted: Manny's not broke up about it. He says he enjoys watching the downward spiral with a shot of whiskey and "a schadenfreude chaser."
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