(By Darren Svan/The Center Square) – Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said in his monthly report that many of Shreveport’s crime statistics have declined, except for homicides and robberies.

Each month, Smith provides the City Council with year-to-date crime statistics compared with 2025 numbers, which he presented during Monday’s council work session.

“Unfortunately, this year there has been a significant increase in the amount of homicides,” Smith said. There were 21 homicides in this period compared to 18 last year.

The number of homicides increased sharply following the April mass shooting that occurred in Cedar Grove, where eight children were killed by Shamar Elkins, father to seven of the kids.

Domestic violence was trending upward, Smith said, but has stabilized at 1,372 reported incidents, which is essentially unchanged over last year but up by 11% since 2024 when there were 1,232 calls.

Sex crimes, vehicle thefts, burglaries and vehicle burglaries are all down, while robberies – taking property from someone – is up by 19%. There have been 37 robberies this year compared to 31 at this time last year.

Chris Bordelon, the department’s public information officer, allowed The Center Square to review their crime data collection process.

“There’s no way for us to manipulate the number of people that have been struck by bullets,” Bordelon said. “Those numbers are what they are.”

Bordelon gathers data from Caddo Parish 9-1-1 for Smith’s monthly reports. Caddo 9-1-1 is an emergency communications center that houses dispatchers for the Shreveport police and fire departments, and the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Emergency calls reach a dispatcher who assigns each one a tracking number, then routes the call to the appropriate department. Crime figures are collected from the system based on categories.

“It has the most accurate and up-to-date data,” Bordelon said.

Shootings are down by 15%, from 103 last year to 88 this year. A shooting means someone was shot, while a report of gunfire means someone heard shots fired.

Bordelon searched the system for shots fired incidents through June 22 in 2024, 2025 and 2026. They totaled 1,404, 1,015 and 1,111, respectively, which is a 9.5% increase over the previous year.

“We’re not saying that there is no crime but the idea that crime is at an all-time high is just factually incorrect,” Bordelon said.