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The Houma-Thibodaux area made a list it likely would rather not make this week.
The USA Today published a story over the weekend tracking violent crime around the country, while also listing places where rates have fluctuated in recent years.
(See the full story by clicking here)
In the story, the Houma-Thibodaux area is listed as the No. 10 city in the country for violent crime growth over the five-year span from 2011-16.
Our area is one of three Louisiana cities to make the list.
Alexandria ranked No. 17, while Monroe was listed as the place in the United States where crime rates have risen the fastest.
According to the research done by USA Today, the five-year violent crime rate change in the Houma-Thibodaux was 42.8 percent – jumping from 314.6 crimes per 100,000 people in 2011 to 449.1 per 100,000 people in 2016.
The article also lists several stats which could contribute to the spike in violent crime.
In 2011, the economy locally was much better than it was in 2016 and multiple studies show that the higher an area’s unemployment and rate of poverty are, the higher crime will be, as well.
Trends show that economic conditions could be a huge factor in the local increase, because crime in 2011-14 stayed relatively the same, then jumped significantly in 2015 and 2016, which is when the worst of the oil and gas crash had taken place.
The good news is that even with the increase, the area is still considered one of the safer metro areas in Louisiana because of how low crime rates were in 2011.
At the time when data was being collected in 2011, the Houma-Thibodaux area was considered the most crime-free metro area in Louisiana. It’s lost that distinction now, but it’s still near the top, according to USA Today. •
