According to a recent uniform crime report from the FBI, violent crime in Opelousas is down.

Violent crime has dropped 46% from 2014 to 2015.

Chief Thompson tells KLFY’s Jazmin Thibodeaux that in 2014, there were six homicides, but last year, there was only one, “The one homicide that we had, the grand jury found a no true bill and the FBI said, well that’s justifiable homicide so in actuality it’s zero.”

There’s been one homicide so far in 2016. Both suspects were arrested within a week.

Thompson believes that this is a result of his officers doing more proactive policing, “The most important thing is having that relationship with the public,” He added that most people just want you to listen to them.

One resident, David Boxie agreed, “It brings the safety level up, the more presecne3 of police officers, the more visibility of them decreases the crime level.”

Mayor Reginald Tatum says he hopes this sends a message to the community, “We are not tolerating any crime here in Opelousas and if you do commit a crime, you will be caught,”

While violent crime may, property crime, property crime has risen 6%, Thompson tells KLFY. He added that he does have a plan to tackle this issue, though, “I’m going to add, put more police officers and hire more police officers and that’s going to help. I’m also going to put them in specialized units.” Thompson says he hopes to see these numbers continue to decrease over time.

The department still has three unsolved murders, two of them from 2014.