NOLA.com20%
This New Orleans police captain is 'fishing in a barrel' for speeders in street safety push 15%
By Missy Wilkinson0%
7/16/2026, 9:00:00 AM
Keywords: Hardwall
BS Summary: This article contains 19 faulty reasoning types, including Confirmation Bias, Anecdotal, and Post Hoc (False Cause), with Appeal to Authority as the most egregious example at 14.2% saturation with 95 hits. Analysis detected 693 faulty-reasoning hits from 669 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 30.9% and a BS Rank of 15% (14,186 of 16,550 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 85.70% of the article peer group.
At the Olive Branch Cafe in Algiers on Monday afternoon, customers placed orders at a new granite counter and sat at freshly refinished tables beside new windows.
The remodel came courtesy of a speeding vehicle that crashed into the eatery in May, ripping through its porch and a brick wall before coming to rest near a cash register.
"My first thought was, 'An 18-wheeler must have hit a car.'
And then I saw a piece of the building flying," said assistant manager Richard Nguyen.
"I hate to say it, but it’s like fishing in a barrel," said the New Orleans Police Department's traffic commander, Captain Buddy Micheu.
The speed trap is part of a broader shift in traffic enforcement that has accelerated amid a yearslong, citywide decline in violent crime.
As of July 15, the city had logged 45 homicides, according to NOPD, a nearly 70% decline from a year ago.
Total year-to-date crime incidents were down 42% since 2023, the NOPD dashboard shows.
The sustained drop has allowed the NOPD to devote more resources to proactive policing, including expanded traffic enforcement.
The strategy includes active enforcement in what Micheu called "serious accident areas," such as stretches of Elysian Fields Avenue, North Robertson Street, Claiborne Avenue, St.
Claude Avenue, Chef Menteur Highway and Leon C.
Simon Drive.
There are also intelligence-led deployments, including one that recently shut down a planned "burnout" event.
As of July 9, the department had issued 17,486 citations year-to-date.
In 2023, the NOPD issued just 5,212 traffic citations.
That number jumped to 30,940 in 2024 and 35,098 in 2025.
"We're doing more enforcement than we've ever done," Micheu said.
"And those numbers speak for themselves."
The strategy appears to be helping save lives.
As of July 9, Orleans Parish had recorded 21 traffic fatalities.
If that pace continues, New Orleans would end the year with about 40 traffic deaths — a 29% decline from the 56 fatalities recorded in 2025 and a 38% drop from the 64 recorded in 2024.
"Supt.
Anne Kirkpatrick's mission is to one, cut down on fatalities.
That was a directive to me," said Micheu, who has spent 20 of his 37 years with NOPD in its traffic division.
"Two is to make sure we increase enforcement in areas that our community is constantly talking about."
"Members of the NOPD have been making more stops, they've been investigating, using information available," Green said after a National Crime Victim's Rights Week event.
So far this year, the NOPD has made 219 DUI arrests, already surpassing the 191 recorded during all of 2023.
Since parking enforcement was transferred to the Traffic Division on May 31, Micheu has been able to coordinate speeding enforcement with parking enforcement and towing operations in problem areas.
On Monday morning, from a desk flanked by American flags and topped with a humidor of Honduran long-leaf tobacco cigars used to reward officers, he conferred with Sgt.
Rodney Brown about where to do enforcement.
"I think we can still get this done if it's not pouring cats and dogs," Brown said.
"I think General De Gaulle is the best since it's clear—the cars should be able to see us, we should be able to see them, and the reaction time should be there."
By noon, the enforcement in the 5100 block of General De Gaulle was in full effect and had attracted a few spectators.
From the entry of Michelli's cocktail lounge, owner Jim Michelli pointed out crash barriers in front of a neighboring corner store.
"They’ve done been through that store three times," said Michelli, who opened his lounge in 1972.
"Speeding's ... just a given right here."
At the Olive Branch, protective exterior columns were among the garden's new additions.
"We're going to put rose bushes on those columns to cover them up," Nguyen said, "So you won’t be able to be able to notice them, but they will be there, protecting."
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