By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
- The New Orleans Police Department’s homicide unit had a 98% case clearance rate as of Aug. 12, up from 43% in 2022, according to NOPD data.
- Officials credit the increase to a sharp decline in homicides, lighter detective caseloads, expanded interagency collaboration and improved investigative technology.
- As of Aug. 12, 52 people had been killed in New Orleans this year, with 49 classified as murders; about two-thirds of this year’s cases have resulted in arrests.
- The clearance rate also reflects several older cases resolved in 2026, including seven killings dating back to 2021.
- NOPD’s homicide unit now operates with lighter caseloads than in 2022, when the city recorded 266 homicides.
NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Police Department’s homicide clearance rate reached 98% as of Aug. 12, a dramatic turnaround from 43% in 2022, when the city recorded the nation’s highest murder total, according to NOPD data.
As of Aug. 12, 52 people had been killed in New Orleans this year, with 49 of those deaths classified as murders. About two-thirds of this year’s murder cases have resulted in arrests. The overall clearance rate reflects the resolution of several older cases as well, including seven killings dating back to 2021, among them the 2024 mass shooting outside a nightclub that killed one person and wounded 11 others.
NOPD Lt. Andrew Waldron, who leads the homicide unit, said the department’s ability to close cases has improved significantly as homicides have declined citywide. In 2022, when 266 people were killed in New Orleans, homicide detectives were each assigned around 15 or 16 cases; today, most carry three or four. The homicide unit currently has 16 active detectives, three cold case detectives and three civilian investigators covering the city’s eight patrol districts.
Officials and outside experts said the lighter caseload allows detectives more time to build stronger cases, while expanded collaboration with agencies including Louisiana State Police’s Troop NOLA has also contributed to the increase. Jeff Asher, cofounder of AH Datalytics, noted that clearance rates rise mathematically as homicide totals fall, a trend also reflected nationally, where the FBI reported murder clearance rates climbing from 48.5% in 2022 to about 69% today.
Since August 2025, the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office has secured indictments in 64 of 87 homicide cases, according to a spokesperson for the office; three cases were not indicted by a grand jury, and about 20 remain under review. Advances in surveillance footage, DNA analysis and cell site data have also aided investigations, according to NOPD Deputy Superintendent Nicholas Gernon, who oversees the department’s Investigations and Support Bureau.