BATON ROUGE— The Baton Rouge Police Department said it is seeing fewer homicides so far in the capital city compared to this time last year.

There have been 43 homicides in Baton Rouge this year, compared to 53 homicides at the end of June of last year. The department said they've seen a 19% drop compared to the previous year around this time. 

In 2023, there were 45 homicides in the Capital City. In 2022 there were 54 homicides, and in 2021 there were 60 homicides by the end of June. 

BRPD spokesman L'Jean McKneely said although they’re seeing a decrease right now, there are different factors like drug trafficking and gang activity that make crime unpredictable.

“We do an overall review at the end of the year, and look back at what we could have done better," McKneely said. "We look at various trends, future trends as an effort to stay on top of crime.”

McKneely said he credits the drop to an increased effort in building trust with the community."

“When your community feels confident that when individuals out here commit these crimes that we’re going out and making the arrests, we’re not going to tolerate those particular things. That’s very empowering for the community,” McKneely said.

He said although they're seeing a decrease in violent crime, he says they're noticing an uptick in juvenile crime. 

“We’re working with our city council members in an attempt to come up with ideas and maybe change the laws in an attempt to address those issues,” he said. 

One example is 17-year-old Eddie Monroe. He was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in June for a fatal shooting on Avenue J. In May, Monroe was on bond for his involvement in a shooting at a downtown Baton Rouge Christmas parade.

McKneely said keeping repeated violent offenders off the streets would help their efforts to curb crime.

“Speaking with our judicial system and some attorneys, coming up with some solutions to where we can target that small group," he said. "Targeting those individuals and dealing with them in a timely manner so that they can not – once arrested get back out here in these streets and commit other violent crimes."

Although the department is undergoing a budget cut and shortage of officers, McKneely said that will not stop the agency from doing their job.
 
“We are still putting in the work – both day and night. Our men and women are out there fighting crime regardless of what’s going on,” he said.