The Tangipahoa Parish area is proud to be the home of the only student from Louisiana to be selected for the GIS Leadership team, a national contest recognizing students for their advancements in the Geographic Information Systems Institute. The GISI is a local study on the effects of geography and the influences that external forces can have on it. The project in question garnering all the attention right now is a local high school student’s study of the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the crime statistics in our area of Louisiana, trying to get an impression on the lingering effects of our past disaster.
Anyone who lives in the area knows the after effects that we faced in the wake of Katrina, the homes lost, the lives put into disarray, and the means in which it touched almost everyone in the state, not just those directly impacted by it. In an unfortunate downturn though, this was a golden opportunity to those with less moral intentions, and after surveying hundreds of thousands of logs that the local police departments had gathered in the years prior and after Katrina, a trend was starting to emerge to this local Tangipahoa Parish student.
In the time just after the hurricane, crimes such as breaking and entering, theft and vandalism were on the rise, and remained there for the duration of the months proceeding, with a gradual downturn to eventually come resting to state averages a few years later. Though crime of any nature isn’t something that we should be looking at in favorable light, knowing that the rates are lower than they have been in years is not only good news for those living in the area, but for those traveling through the Parish as well, giving more of a sense of calm.
Having to deal with all the information at hand had a bit of a toll on this ambitious student though, knowing that each record was a life impacted once again in the wake of the hurricane, yet getting the information out not only to locals and visitors, but providing statistics that the local police forces could use as well yielded some great benefits. It’s in these works that our locals have been undertaking that we get a better sense of the community as a whole as the entire state reels from the largest disaster we had ever gone through.
There will always be the memory of Katrina lingering in the minds of those who live here, those who visit here, and those who have been impacted in one way or another from her effect. Even so, knowing that we are taking an approach of knowledge, trying to learn from past mistakes, and bringing much preparation to face another crisis like it is a bold move for our community. We know what it’s like to go through these issues, how our community reacts, and though there were many negatives, the positives that came of it still linger today across the state.