In response to the continually rising crime rate, the National Guard is back in New Orleans. Having these guys around in the fall was both comforting and unnerving. The peace of mind that comes with having armed military patrols was conflicted with the freaked out “this doesn’t even feel like America” weirdness of having armed military patrols.
The increasing murder rate shouldn’t surprise anyone. It’s not exactly breaking news that long before the storm hit and the levees and flood walls failed, New Orleans had problems with violent crime and drugs. Now, let’s look at the situation of the last few months. Many of the neighborhoods that suffered the most devastation were also the neighborhoods that has the highest crime rates. When the repopulation began, criminals would return to their city, but not be able to return to their neighborhood. This would of course eventually lead to turf wars (something New Orleans is all to familiar with, most recently after the closing of St. Thomas).
Now there’s 50+ murdered people this year and the streets are patrolled by guys in camo carrying M-16s. Sometimes I don’t miss it all that much

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