Photo by Tony Webster/WikimediaCrime in Lafayette Parish — that is, the unincorporated part of the parish patrolled by the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office — fell by 1.4 percent in 2016 compared to the previous year, according to a news release issued Tuesday by the LPSO.
Most crime categories in the report — forcible rape, robbery and car theft, particularly — showed significant declines. Rapes plummeted more than 63 percent, from 30 reported in 2015 to 11 last year. Murders, on the other hand, increased by roughly the same measure, 67 percent, climbing from 6 in 2015 to 10 in '16.
Yesterday, Lafayette Police released uniform crime stats for the city of Lafayette that showed a 5 percent drop in overall crime, with murders falling 20 percent. (But again, as with parish statistics, that only represents four fewer murders in 2016 compared to the year before.)
*The sample size is small and statistical significance dubious.