New Orleans Murder Rate Down in 2004

I am posting a blog on statistical research dealing with the decreasing murder rate in New Orleans for the year 2004. The following website deals with this excellent news: http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1104562641254380.xml In the first six months of 2004, the number of homicides in New Orleans dropped 14 percent over the same period in 2003, more than double the national average of a 5.7 percent drop, according to the FBI. Police took a new approach and scoured numbers every day to determine where best to put the extra officers. This way, the city can be properly protected wherever the most violence and murder occurs. Not every part of the city saw a drop in the murder rate though. Although murders dipped in 2004, the 7th and 6th districts saw increases of 30 percent or more. One of the hardest, hottest, decrepit streets in the city, for the year 2004 was Tara Lane in eastern New Orleans, in the 7th District. The murder rate and way of murder was so violently out of control that the U.S. attorney's office, began in 2003 to send more cases to the federal government in the hopes of keeping repeat offenders behind bars longer. Compass said the department also regrouped and joined forces with Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan. Another resource that the city has tapped just recently is the use of ministers patrolling the streets with love and tidings of good hope and feelings. Five hundred ministers, led by the Rev. Antoine Barriere, fanned out into the city in force looking for the bad guys. First, they gathered in the 7th Ward neighborhood where an elderly mother and daughter were killed brazingly by bad guys. They prayed for witnesses to come forward, for justice for the slain women. They ministered to drug addicts and invited those without a church to worship with them. These statistics should help console those who are afraid of moving to New Orleans due to the murder rate.