We appreciate our police in Slidell and St. Tammany

The two main law enforcement agencies directly linked to Slidell and St. Tammany Parish reported their year-end crime statistics for 2021 and once again, it was the kind of good news we could use more of.
Slidell Chief of Police Randy Fandal released the report for their agency that showed an amazing total of a 22.5 percent overall decline in crime, mainly linked to a big drop in thefts, which went from 752 in 2020 to 546 in 2021.
The categories of most importance to the average resident in Slidell are violent crimes such as murder and rape, both of which remained very low with three homicides last year in the city limits, and three reported rapes.
Sheriff Randy Smith was pleased to issue similar numbers from the Sheriff’s Office for 2021, with only five murders in the unincorporated areas of the parish, as well as 32 rapes and 16 robberies.
Non-violent crime in the parish also remains low, but most impressive in the sheriff’s report is a trend the agency has maintained for many years, and that is a very high solve rate for the crimes. Among violent crimes, the Sheriff’s Office investigative team solved and made arrests in 82 percent of them all, right at double the national average.
If you wonder just how good our law enforcement is for the parish, and we should add the outstanding work by State Police to the mix, you only have to look at crime in major cities—most of which are places that the “defund the police” movement has far too much support.
In 2021, with the liberal mindset somehow thinking fewer police would improve things, 12 major cities in the U.S. set all-time homicide records, and most major cities are also seeing carjacking numbers go through the roof.
Chicago led the nation in murders last year with 797, and also led the nation in carjackings with over 1,800.
Philadelphia and New York City are also terrible places to live if you care about safety for you or your family. In Philly for 2021 there were 559 murders, with carjackings quadrupling over the past four years.
In NYC there were over 485 murders last year, both cities up 13 percent from 2020.
New Orleans, unfortunately, was also among a city with criminal problems as they had nearly 300 carjackings last year, along with 218 murders.
Most of us know and appreciate the incredible work by our police on the North Shore. But take one look at the problems in big cities when it comes to crime and you can understand why more-and-more people are fleeing major cities.
That’s why we especially appreciate the strong stance by our law enforcement leaders like Fandal and Smith, who openly remind criminals they better not come here to commit crime—unless they enjoy the view from inside a prison cell.