BATON ROUGE - The mayor's office says dozens of police officers are being reassigned to help fight a surge in violent crime over the past several weeks.

The joint statement from Mayor Sharon Weston Broome's office and BRPD Chief Murphy Paul says 60 detectives will be reassigned to assist the Narcotics Section and the Street Crimes Unit to increase police presence in" areas of concern," as well as to assist in ongoing investigative efforts. Another 20 will be moved from specialized units (Mounted, K-9 and Traffic) to assist with proactive patrols in designated areas.

According to the news release, three arrests have been made thus far in the 14 homicides that occurred in November. Three different deadly shootings were reported in the city this weekend alone.

“I want to reassure our citizens that we are continuously taking steps to address violence in our city. There will always be ebbs and flows when it comes to crime and we are being proactive to stop it,” Mayor Broome said. 

Additionally, 26 new officers will be released from the Field Training Program this week and will be permanently assigned to Uniform Patrol, according to city officials.