MONROE, La. – “A lot of the crimes we have are juveniles using guns and gun violence” says Chief of Police Victor Zordan, with the City of Monroe.
2020 proved to be an active year regarding homicides. The city reported 22 total, which is an increase from 16 in 2019. There was also an increase in violent crime as well, which is also occurring across the country. And trying to prevent these types of crimes presents a unique challenge to law enforcement.
“Some of these violent crimes escalate and the victim succumbs to their injuries and it becomes a murder. So, they go hand in hand but there’s no way to predict the escalation of the violence or the damage that was done to the individual” Zordan said.
Despite this increase in violent crime in 2020, Chief Zordan says his department has a plan in place to cut down on it in 2021. He says it starts with placing more of these around the community.
This includes putting more officers on the streets, as well as building up the Metro Narcotics nit to combat some of the main problems that encourage violent crimes and homicides.
“I’m a firm believer that guns and drugs go hand in hand, and we need to dismantle those organizations from the top down. So I’m going to put more emphasis on that and backing them and supporting them so we can get the entire organizations off the street” Zordan said.
