New Orleans had one of its most violent months in a very long time in January. 75 people were shot in the month, which is more than double the number for January 2016. There appears to be no end in sight.

From Nola.com:

Seventy-five people were killed or wounded by gunfire in New Orleans in the first month of the year – more than twice the total in January 2016, according to a Times-Picayune tally of police reports. The staggering total this month, more than two a day, comes on the heels of a violent 2016 that saw increases in murders and nonfatal shootings.

The total includes victims of a double shooting Tuesday night (Jan. 31) that New Orleans police said left two people dead outside Edna Karr High School in Algiers. It also includes a woman killed and another woman injured in a second double shooting Tuesday night, this one in New Orleans East.

Tuesday’s killings raised January’s murder tally to 22, the highest since January 2012, when 25 people were killed. All but three homicides this year have been confirmed as caused by gunshots.

Crime is up all over the country, but it’s worse in New Orleans than other places. In fact, New Orleans has had more shootings per capita than Chicago.

According to 2016 data from NOPD, there were approximately 520 shooting incidents in New Orleans last year – or roughly 133 incidents per 100,000 residents. The count includes only instances in which someone was hit by a bullet, not every time a gun was fired.

That’s a higher rate than in Chicago, which tallied a gruesome 3,550 shooting incidents last year. With a population seven times larger than New Orleans, Chicago had a rate of 130 shootings per 100,000 people.

So far, a person has been shot in the city of New Orleans every 10 hours. With the NBA All-Star Game and Mardi Gras coming up, that doesn’t project the image of a safe city.

Mayor Mitch Landrieu says he has a plan to fight crime in the city. But his “plan” looks more like a PR stunt than an actual plan to secure the city. Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro isn’t a big fan of Mitch’s plan either, especially since it includes cuts to his office.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Jeff Landry is using his contacts with the Trump administration to lift the consent decree that has crippled the New Orleans Police Department. We think this will do more to fight crime in New Orleans than any “plan” Mitch Landrieu might come up with.