Where Does Shreveport Rank In Murder Rate?
One of the duties we have as Brand Managers at Townsquare Media Shreveport/Bossier City is meeting with representatives from the various record labels that supply the music for our four music stations.
One day last week, Erin Bristol and I had lunch with a couple of reps from Atlantic Records and RCA Records. Both of them are headquartered in Dallas and just made a day trip to Tyler and Shreveport to meet with radio stations. During the course of our conversation the topic of crime came up as it often seems to do these days. They were astonished to hear that Shreveport ranks as one of the top cities in the country for murders per capita.
Like a lot of people, our friends have the image of this part of Louisiana as being bucolic like most of East Texas. We explained that that image is certainly accurate outside of the city, but that Shreveport has a very seamy underbelly. Even as our meal ended they seemed suspicious of our claims.
Well, wouldn't you know it, on Monday 24/7 Wall Street released their annual list of America's 25 Murder Capitals, and Shreveport comes in at #18. In 2016 there were 42 murders in our fine city, an increase of almost 50% from the year before. There were 949 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, up 16% from 2015. In comparison, the rest of the country averaged an increase of 3%.
There's even more bad news for our state. Louisiana is one of only two states to place three cities in the Top 25, and those cities are Shreveport, New Orleans, and Baton Rouge.
There is a little bit of good news mixed in there. Violent crime is way down in Shreveport since the late 1980's and 2014 had the lowest crime rate in 40 years. Also, we're not the worst in Louisiana. That dubious honor belongs to New Orleans. The Crescent City ranks 6th on the list.
This morning Erin sent an e-mail to our two record company friends with a link to the 24/7 Wall Street story. They haven't replied yet, probably because they haven't picked their jaws up off the floor yet.