Jeff Asher, in his "guest column" published in the New Orleans Advocate dated 10/3/25 titled, "Data shows National Guard not needed in our city" explains why, better than anything offered on the subject matter by the paper's editorial board. Jeff's article also reported how crime in New Orleans has dramatically improved since the city was the murder capital of the country in 2022 and that we should appreciate just how far this city has progressed in the last few years.
Murder is down more than 60% since the 2022 peak, carjackings down more than 80%, car theft and car burglary down 70% and explains what has contributed to the improvements in the way of people and organizations that have responded so well to the problems.
Jeff continues, deploying the National Guard with no training in law enforcement, potentially against the will of the people does none of this by lowering the morale of the men and women trying to serve their country. The violent crime trend in D.C. is virtually unchanged in the aftermath of the federal intervention. Violent crime was falling before the deployment and is falling at a similar rate now. The data from D.C. does show the possibility of very real costs to New Orleans should the Guard be deployed here. There is growing evidence that fewer people are out and about in D.C. and this change in mobility is hurting local business.
New Orleans has seen vast progress against many of the city's very worse problems over the last few years. These problems are by no means solved and denying this progress and trying to solve them by deploying armed soldiers for a poorly defined mission for which they are trained, is by no means the solution.
Jeff's article is one of facts and data assembled which gives the clearest picture yet on the subject matter. Those who are doing their best to use the subject as their political tool will pay the price for their ignorance and only do more harm to our men and women in uniform who serve their country proudly. Our armed forces deserve better and Democracy is still why America is a great country.
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
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