In Opelousas, it's easier to buy a gun than it is to buy drugs.
At least that is what Opelousas Assistant Marshal Louis Armstrong believes. And that ease of access is one factor contributing to the city’s rise in crime, which leaders say is exacerbated by a lack of law enforcement officers able to respond and little money to recruit more. Studies say more opportunities for jobs would help combat the rising crime rate, but the rising crime rate makes it harder to attract new businesses.
It’s a cycle that community activists and stakeholders are trying to disrupt. And it starts with understanding the problem.
In Opelousas, a resident is nearly five times more likely to be a victim of violent crime compared to Lafayette resident, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Crime Data Explorer. Data shows for every 1,000 citizens in Opelousas, 21.46 violent crimes are committed.
Violent crime rose 20% between 2012 and 2022. Last year saw a 38% decrease in shootings, robberies, burglaries and aggravated assaults from the year prior, yet the city still stands out among its peers.
Opelousas didn't used to be like this, said City Marshal Paul Mouton, who has several decades of law enforcement experience.
Opelousas used to have skating rinks, safe basketball courts, swimming pools and movie theatres but now those things are gone. Investments into these spaces are investments into the children, Armstrong said. It has become common, he said, for elderly residents to shut themselves indoors in fear and for teenagers to be arrested for gun possession.
To understand what ails the city, Armstrong said he started looking into why crime began to rise.
A major factor in increasing crime is poverty and decline in industry, he said.
Opelousas used to have industries such as oil refineries, lumber mills, agriculture, and wholesale retail, but between 2011 and 2013, the city saw a 30% decrease in taxable revenues from businesses, according to a study by the marshal's office. Armstrong said he is not sure why those businesses left, but he said inadequate planning has allowed the city to sink deeper into poverty and not provide adequate funding to local police.
Opelousas has the highest concentration of poverty in central Louisiana at 30%, a 2022 Louisiana Budget Committee Census report said. The U.S. Census said 40% of households in Opelousas are impoverished with 24% of those homes falling below the $66,288 yearly income, a threshold defined by the United Way as a requirement to raise a family of four in Louisiana. For comparison, Lafayette has 19% poverty and 25% of homes falling below the threshold.
Opelousas also is 43rd in the nation for wealth disparity, according to previous reporting. The top 1% of earners in Opelousas make 26.5 times the remaining 99% of earners in the city.
The decrease in quality jobs can be tied to a loss of hope felt throughout the city, Armstrong said. When people lose hope, it can lead to crimes of desperation like armed robberies and vehicle thefts, he said.
“A city planner in Rochester, New York, said when industry leaves, crime goes up. Look at a place like Opelousas — what’s different from Broussard and Lafayette? Industry. If I can provide a better life for my family, now I’ve got something I can lose. Now before I go out into the street and do something I shouldn’t, I can say it’s not worth it,” Armstrong said.
Justin Fusilier, a college student and an employee at the non-profit afterschool program, Hope for Opelousas, said abandoned homes, decaying businesses, and crumbling infrastructure give an image that this city has nothing to give its youth, he said.
“There’s no money coming through here anymore. Go to Railroad, you can see the worst of the industrial decline. There used to be a lot of money moving around and profit. It’s all gone, all gone,” Fusilier said.
Fusilier said eventually growth will come to Opelousas as Lafayette’s footprint extends along the Interstate 49. That same footprint has allowed Carencro to grow and create jobs, he said.
But businesses need to feel their investments are safe, Armstrong said. If local law enforcement cannot reduce robberies and murders, businesses will be less likely to enter Opelousas, he said.
To do that, law enforcement needs proper funding and competitive salaries, which Opelousas does not have, Armstrong said. The city marshal’s budget is only $400,000 , he said. The team cannot afford body cameras or the bulletproof vests they need to effectively do their jobs.
The increase in crime has impacted recruiting efforts for law enforcement in Opelousas, Armstrong said.
Opelousas had 64 full-time police officers in 2011, according to data collected by the American Civil Liberties Union. Today, the department employs 38 officers. Many officers left for better pay in less violent cities like Carencro and Lafayette, Armstrong said.
The Opelousas Police Department pays its officers $32,000 a year, just above $15 an hour, but expects its officers to come face-to-face with criminals who are now more likely to be carrying fully automatic weapons and AR-15-styled rifles, Armstrong said.
The ease of access to firearms is one of the main reasons Louisiana struggles with gun violence, Olivia Li, a lawyer with Everytown for Gun Safety, said.
Louisiana ranked second in the nation for gun deaths in 2020. Li said the reason is more guns lead to more gun deaths. A gun in the home increases the risk of death by a firearm either accidentally or intentionally, increases risks of suicide, and increases the risk of a gun being stolen and used in a crime, Li said.
“If you look at the big picture, it’s really hard to say that if you decide to own a gun that that’s a decision that only affects you,” Li said.
That is why advocacy groups in Opelousas believe intervention to be an essential part of keeping the community safe. There is a lot that happens before and in between a gun being stolen in Opelousas and it ending up in the hands of a teenager or young adult.
Eric Williams, who grew up in Bastrop, Louisiana, sees similarites between the two communities. He acknowledges he was probably headed toward a life of crime.
“I turned to the streets, and I had a bad attitude,” Williams said, “I stayed kicked out of school, alternative schools, boys’ homes. I use my story to empower these kids with give them hope. Something a gun can’t give.”
Williams credits the turnaround in his life to his religious faith and a teacher who believed in him.
After his cousin was shot and killed, Williams said he began to see the cyclical nature of violence. He started a youth outreach organization in Opelousas called Guns Down Power Up. It uses the power of chess to engage young brains and show them there can be a path to success.
Each board represents a certain aspect of life: the king is authority, the queen is power, the bishop is loyalty, the knight is love, the castle is home, and the pawn is respect. To play the game, these pieces all need to work together just like in real life, Williams said.
Chess is only an entry point into neighborhoods, Williams said. The real mission starts when that child or teenager sits down to play – asking them to open up and talk about their life goals, emotions, and struggles. Those same people then get to sit down with other children and teenagers and hear their stories to reunite communities in Opelousas that have fractured into small enclaves often in opposition to one another due to gang squabbles.
Groups like Hope for Opelousas and Guns Down Power Up aim to sway kids from the perpetual cycle of violence through education, safe environments and simply being positive adult role models. While they believe healing starts with the youth, these groups believe positivity to be infectious and a vibrant and proud city is possible in the future.
Meanwhile Mouton and Armstrong rebooted the City Marshal’s Highway Interdiction team in 2023 in response to the increase in violence. The team assists the Opelousas Police Department with a focus on getting firearms and drug traffickers off the street. So far, the team has seized almost 100 guns, many illegally carried and modified, Armstrong said.
Williams believes that Opelousas fosters a lot of unresolved pain and trauma that manifests itself in violence.
“There has to be a form of healing and we have to get to the root,” he said. “Violence, like racism, is taught. You have had to experience violence to do violence. A bully is a bully because they were bullied. How do you fix that, you fix the bully.”