CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

The addition of seven names to the New Orleans homicide list in 2001 didn't
make a dramatic difference statistically.

The increase from 205 murders in 2000 to 212 in 2001 works out to a 3
percent change, and four murder victims who died in 2001 were actually
wounded several years earlier.

Any increase in murders is tragic, of course. Every life taken affects
dozens of family members and friends who are left to grieve the loss.

In the broader sense, even a slight increase in homicides is a disturbing
trend, particularly in a community that has fought so hard to reduce a
murder rate that seven years ago seemed to be spiraling out of control.

While the number of murders is dramatically lower now than it was in 1994,
when 421 people were killed in New Orleans, 2001 was the second year in a
row in which homicides went up. And there has been a significant increase
since 1999, when 162 murders were recorded as the murder rate declined for
the fifth-consecutive year.

That low mark -- the lowest in 14 years -- was still too high for comfort,
but it looks awfully good now. And New Orleans needs to see the murder rate
start moving back in that downward direction in 2002.

That isn't a simple proposition, but it is doable. While murders also went
up in cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta in 2001, the rates
went down in New York City, Baltimore and the District of Columbia.

The level of violence in a community is the result of a complex set of
circumstances -- drug use, gang activity, the strength or weakness of the
economy -- and there is a cyclical nature to it.

One of the reasons for the explosion of violence in the early 1990s was the
crack cocaine epidemic. One of the reasons for the later downturn was the
decline of that drug's popularity.

Now police say that heroin use and other drug activity is a main reason for
the city's increase in robberies and homicides. That is a thorny problem,
but it is not insurmountable.

As New Orleans and, to a greater degree, New York City have seen, a
well-staffed, focused police department can help reduce homicides and other
violence in a community. The Crescent City followed the NYPD in its use of
a computerized tracking system that targets crime hot spots and allows
police to better coordinate crime-fighting efforts.

It's a strategy that makes great sense, and the department rightly plans to
stick with it.

NOPD has had difficulty hiring the number of officers Superintendent
Richard Pennington said he needed when he began reforming the department in
1996. The department hit the magic number -- 1,700 -- last New Year's Eve,
but retirements and resignations eroded the progress. Staffing dipped to
1,675 by summer and is at 1,662 now, including 60 recruits who are still in
training.

Fortunately, NOPD seems to have gotten recruiting efforts back on track.
The hiring process was shortened from 10 months to four in 1997 but had
crept back up to 10 months earlier this year. With the help of Civil
Service and LSU officials, the department is back to a four-month
turnaround on exams, background checks and psychological evaluations.

NOPD officials promise to keep up that pace and to maintain aggressive
recruiting efforts even when they reach their optimal troop strength. Those
are promises they should keep. The City Council budgeted enough money for
1,735 officers for 2002, and the department needs to do everything it can
to get there -- and stay there.

Having more well-trained officers on patrol is no guarantee of peaceful
streets, but it makes them more likely.