Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar C. Moore III

 

Tuesday at Louisiana State University, Hillar C. Moore III held a private press conference with students in the Louisiana Scholastic Press Association (LSPA) Summer Institute. He touched on many points in his career and the Baton Rouge Area Violence Elimination (BRAVE) program.

 

In 2012, there were 96 homicides six more than there were in the year before. Since the initiation of BRAVE program in late 2012, there has been an average 20 percent reduction in homicides in Baton Rouge Parish, according to Moore.

 

Moore said before the BRAVE program there was much confusion about the source of all these murders and why they were happening. Between 2012 and 2013, an investigation was done by Moore and his associates to try and get to the bottom of this murder epidemic.

 

The cause of these murders was violent groups of juveniles on the streets of Baton Rouge. Now that there was a clear target for where these murders were happening and who was doing them it was time to form a strategy of how to handle the problem.

 

Soon a meeting was held involving teachers, spiritual leaders, community leaders, police officials and state officials to figure out how many groups there were, how to distinguish these groups, and who was in these groups.

 

Once all 36 known groups had been identified they began targeting leaders of these groups.

 

Group leaders were sent a letter requesting them to meet with members of BRAVE.

 

The group leaders or “crime drivers” were given a strong message and a choice: “Put down your guns and take our help, put down your guns and don’t take our help, or keep doing what you are doing and we will arrest you and your whole group.”

 

The first call-in was a great success, said Moore. Thirty-six of the 40 leaders showed up. Since the meeting, there have been many more.

 

Moore said many group leaders laid low or put their guns down and took BRAVE’s assistance.

 

“Baton Rouge is a large city with large problems,” said Moore.

 

Baton Rouge is the largest city in Louisiana, since Hurricane Katrina. Yet it still does not rank in the top ten most dangerous cities in the State of Louisiana, according to Home Security Shield.  

 

“There has been a large decrease in homicides since this program began, we expect to see a greater decline over the coming years,” said Moore.