March Was Murder Month in Shreveport, Stats Show a 1000% Increase
The Shreveport crime statistics are out for March of this year, and it's not pretty. At first I thought it must be a mistake, perhaps someone added an extra zero or two - but that's not the case. According to the ArkLaTex Homepage - homicides are up in the Ratchet City 1000%.
Before you start in with reasoning like "Well, we were all locked inside for the last year..." - I'm pretty sure that applies to eating and/or drinking too much, not murder. The numbers directly from the Shreveport Police's monthly crime report are astonishing: In March of 2020 (the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic) there was only one single homicide, which is still one too many. There were 11 reported in March of 2021.
In fact, when you look at the murder numbers from the first 3 months of last year compared with this year - you're looking at the difference between 10 and 22 cases, that's an increase of 120%.
Auto theft has also seen a dramatic rise in 2021, as the numbers show a 85% increase of vehicles stolen in Shreveport. If you're looking for a silver lining - here's the best I can do: Rape and burglary were both down 79% during the month of March.