HPD racing to stop crime at its core

Houma Chief of Detectives Jude McElroy sits at his desk and looks up at a white board full of black ink. He’s scrawled the dates, locations and victims’ names of this year’s major crimes. That list includes 10 homicides, 18 shootings and a litany of stabbings, armed robberies and other crimes.

But McElroy’s mind appears somewhat at ease because there is also a lot of red ink on that board that reads “Solved.”

“Of the 10 murders we’ve had this year, we’ve solved nine of them, and nine out of 10 is pretty good,” said McElroy.

Crime in Houma has spiked this year. After no murders in 2008, there have been 10 murders so far this year. Shootings and drug arrests are trending upward as well, according to police, and citizens are starting to take notice.

On the corner of Morgan and Hobson streets alone, there have been two assaults, a stabbing and a shooting, according to www.crimespot.org, a Web site the police department sends most of its crime data to map crime. In the area bordered by Hobson, Morgan, Main and Polk streets, the map is pocked with four shootings, 12 assaults and a smattering of robberies and burglaries.

“I just keep my door closed, my eyes closed and I stay at work,” said one Morgan Street resident, who declined to be named, and warned a reporter against asking “those kinds of questions” in her neighborhood.

“There’s a lot of families around that have lost people because of stuff like that,” said another.

Cameron Ringo, a 41-year-old Houma native, who owns a barbershop on the corner of Morgan and Main, said, “I’ve been here 14 years, and it’s only getting worse.

“These kids are just fighting like cats and dogs, and the girls fight more than the boys,” said Ringo. “There’s a lot of good kids around here, but here they can make a good kid bad.”

Police Fight Back

Houma’s Interim Chief of Police Todd Duplantis is not allowing his men to stay complacent and reactionary. He’s making attempts to stop crime before it happens.

“I’m telling you, we’re shaking the tree. We’re out and about in the community and being proactive,” he said. “We basically believe we’re taking all the low-level dealers off the street, and the big guys are sticking their heads out right now.”

He also said that residents should feel safe because most of the crime thus far hasn’t happened to innocent bystanders.

“A lot of the crimes that I’m noticing are people basically allowing themselves to be victimized,” said Duplantis. “This is people that are out and about that are being victimized because they’re in areas where they shouldn’t be within the criminal elements.”

The Houma Police Department has recently begun using a computer statistics program it calls COMPSTAT to help pinpoint when and where crimes happen so that police presence will be felt before the violence.

“The Houma Police Department will no longer be non-productive and conduct meaningless patrols,” said Duplantis.

The department has assigned two officers to a full-time crime prevention unit and started an additional 10 neighborhood groups in the last year.

McElroy called COMPSTAT, “the best thing since the invention of the gas-powered engine,” in part because it allows Houma Police to share information with other area departments. It’s also freed up his detectives to spend less time filing paper work and more time solving crime. It’s helped to stave off fatigue in a department that grows weary of the increasing crime, in spite of its best efforts.

“We all get tired of seeing dead people,” he said. “Sometimes, I jump up and down when these guys get the information they need to solve a case.”

In spite of a daunting task, the detective unit has not slowed down.

“I’m extremely proud of the work my detectives have done,” said McElroy. “Sometimes we’ll work these guys 24 to 36 hours or more. We’ll call them in the middle of the night and they’ll leave their families to come solve a crime.”

Residents Remain Worried

Back at Ringo’s barbershop, Cam’s Prime Time Cuts, people debated whether police action alone can stop crime.

“I’ll give it to the police, they’re trying,” said Ringo. “But it’s not going to help when you have the police out here and (criminals) don’t respect them.

“Just a few weeks ago, they picked up 16 people out there. Sure it calmed down for a week or two, but then they came right back,” he said.

Ron Thibodaux, a 41-year-old friend and customer of Ringo’s, said, “It’s all peer pressure. Sometimes when these kids want to fight, they’re not stopping until they have a fight. Even if you don’t want to fight, they’re going to make you.”

Dee Leidenheimer, a resident of Bayou Towers Senior Center and the head of its Neighborhood Watch group, enjoys escaping the summer heat on her balcony overlooking the bayou. That peace was shattered earlier this year when 18-year-old Herchel Lutcher was shot just down the street.

“There’s really nothing we can do. We just try to watch ourselves, like not going out late at night,” she said.

Leidenheimer said that police help the watch group stay safe as much as they try to help the police solve crime.

“We have policemen who come talk to us and ask if we have any questions and they give us things to keep us safe,” she said.

Overall, Leidenheimer said she doesn’t feel too worried. “I think I’d be safe at daytime. There seem to be a lot of nice people around here,” she said. “But I wouldn’t go on Morgan Street at night.”

Even McElroy admitted that he doesn’t always feel safe. “Let’s face it. As a police officer, I know there are streets I wouldn’t walk down unless I was on official police business,” he said.

Drugs are often a major factor in crime, and Houma is no different. Of the 10 murders in Houma this year, McElroy said at least six were directly related to the use or sale of drugs. But from the barbershop to the cop shop, people agreed that larger issues were in play.

“I think it’s a society issue. What kind of values are we instilling in our children?” said McElroy.

“It’s not just drugs either. These kids have nothing to do,” said Thibodaux. “I’m not going to sit here and make excuses or blame the system for the parents and guardians. The best education you can give your kids is the time you spend with them.”

Ringo believes one of the other major problems is a lack of opportunity. “Sure, they say we’ve got plenty jobs, but they don’t pay nothing unless you’re out in the oilfields.”

McElroy mirrored that statement, saying, “I just heard on the news that they’re going to hire 1,000 people for LaShip, and that gives me hope.”

He also mentioned a major arrest this year of three people who went on an armed robbery spree. After they apprehended the individuals who had targeted 19 Latino residents, the ringleader said the whole thing started when she was laid off from her management job at a local big-box store, according to McElroy.

“My biggest worry is for the future,” said Thibodaux. “We’ve got all these kids that are getting in fights and doing drugs, and in five or six years, the taxpayers are going to be paying for them. We spend 90 percent of our time on the bad kids and 10 percent of the time on the good kids. That should be the opposite, so I don’t dwell on the bad kids.”

Cameron Ringo, owner of Cam’s Prime Time Cuts, and Ron Thibodaux (at left), a friend and customer, discuss the growing murder rate in Downtown Houma. * Photo by BRETT SCHWEINBERG