BATON ROUGE - With 2023 on the way out, East Baton Rouge Parish could see the lowest murder rate since 2020.

Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome credits several of her administration's initiatives for the decrease.

"I believe it speaks to a lot of the work that we've done. Work surrounding community involvement, investments in law enforcement, and our East Baton Rouge Parish public safety partnership," she said.

Broome refers to giving pay increases to police officers, implementing the Real Time Crime Center, and partnering with the Department of Justice.

District Attorney Hillar Moore also believes it's because they've been able to get some of the worst bad guys off the streets.

"I do believe that part of it is—we believe that we have very violent offenders that are in jail right now awaiting charges," Moore said.

Here's the last four years of murders in the parish. The District Attorney's office does not count killings that were in self-defense or negligent homicide.

2020: 118 people murdered.
2021: The effects of the COVID pandemic increased crime nationwide. The Parish sees an all time record of 149.
2022: The number goes down about 25 percent to 114.
2023: As of Dec. 4, 92 people have been murdered.

Even with fewer people being killed, Baton Rouge is way above where it should be.

"This number is double where a city our size would fit in across America, but historically we've never been like the rest of America," Moore said.

With four weeks left until the new year, it's not impossible for the number of murders to reach or surpass last year's, especially given the typical uptick during the holiday season.

"August, September, October—during that entire span there were only 11 homicides in three months. That's where we should be, but this month, November, we're at 11."

Broome says there are resources for people who feel threatened during the next few weeks.

"As we approach the holiday season, my encouragement is that if anyone feels that they need help, we are here to help. Our city has the resources that are needed to reach out and offer response."

You can find those resources here.