Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul says violent crime is trending downwards despite this past week's events.
Statistics presented at Thursday's press conference show the homicide rate is down by 4% compared to this same time last year, which was a record year for homicides in Baton Rouge. Specifically, Deputy Chief Johnny Dunham pointed out there was a 64% decrease in homicides over the last three months compared to the same time period in 2017.
Officials believe the downward trend was because of the community's willingness to report the crimes.
A number of factors are believed to play a role in the recent spike in violence, including drugs, mental illness and a lack of conflict resolution.
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