Mayor Mitch Landrieu launched NOLA FOR LIFE, a cutting edge and comprehensive murder reduction strategy, in the spring of 2012 to tackle the city’s historically-high murder rate. Recognizing that law enforcement alone cannot solve the murder problem, NOLA FOR LIFE takes a holistic approach to get to the root of the problem, and implements initiatives under five pillars: (1) Stop the Shooting, (2) Invest in Prevention, (3) Promote Jobs and Opportunity, (4) Strengthen the NOPD, and (5) Get Involved and Rebuild Neighborhoods. NOLA FOR LIFE was fueled by the Mayor’s Innovation Delivery Team in partnership with public safety and public health experts and local service providers.
The National Network advises the city's Group Violence Reduction Strategy (GVRS), an integral aspect of the city's Stop the Shooting initiatives, which focuses on group-related gun violence.
New Orleans has been conducting call-ins since 2012 and began custom notifications in 2014. In 2013, the city saw historical reductions in gun homicide.
New Orleans averaged a murder about every other day in the first six months of 2017 - startling for a city of less than 400,000 people - but the police chief said last week he was encouraged by a dip in killings that started the second half of the year. The city went without a murder for an entire week in July, and there was a 10-day stretch without a murder from late August until Cierra Green and Terry Jones were both fatally shot in a Desire-area apartment on Sept. 6.
During the early years of NOLA for Life, the number of homicides in New Orleans declined to its lowest rate since 1971. Since then, however, violence has steadily increased.
A report outlining the work of NOLA for Life.
"In an age when policing is under intense scrutiny, new training programs for officers are showing up across the country." This program teaches "officers how to be psychologically prepared to intervene when they see fellow officers on the verge of unethical behavior."
Max Becherer for The New York Times
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu penned an oped outlining the impressive changes the NOPD is making and how it is sharing those innovations to improve policing across the country.
New Orleans has made significant progress in reducing gun violence, and now looks to take next steps.
Valerie Jarret, Senior Advisor to the President and Mitch Landrieu, Mayor of New Orleans, penned an op-ed outlining their shared vision for criminal justice reform.
This report "provides an all-encompassing view of the City’s comprehensive murder-reduction strategy. The Progress Report details why certain initiatives were selected, who they are reaching and the results they have produced."
NOLA for Life continues to lead to reductions in violence. "After the first three years of the program, the homicide rate fell 18 percent. Deaths ticked up in 2015, but as of mid-June, the rate appears poised to fall again this year."
Mayor Mitch Landrieu penned an op-ed outlining the importance of reducing incarceration in New Orleans.
