New Orleans ? With at least eight slayings in the city in the first week of the new year, officials are considering a curfew to help stem the violence, the police superintendent said Saturday.

“It’s something we’re just sort of talking about, to see if that will make a difference,” police Superintendent Warren Riley said.

Mayor Ray Nagin, meanwhile, urged residents not to leave the city, still rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina, because of the recent killings. He said the slayings could be a tipping point that “galvanizes our community” to find solutions.

Problems will continue until there are improvements in the criminal justice system, which has struggled to get court cases moving since Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, Riley said.