Maybe, and maybe not. The authorities can commandeer private property in such situations. It's quite possible that is what they were doing, but it was misinterpreted by others, both looters and other observers.
When I was a kid, something similar happened. We observed police loading bunches of stuffed animals, carnival game prized, into the trunk of their vehicle. We assumed that they had gotten them as a sort of low level bribe, when in reality they were merely collecting them from the carnival operators who were donating them to local orphanages and such. One must be careful not to jump to conclusions without the big picture of what is going on.
"One must be careful not to jump to conclusions without the big picture of what is going on."
On the other hand, if you had bothered to read the article, you would know that the cops were looting.
"Some officers joined in taking whatever they could, including one New Orleans cop who loaded a shopping cart with a compact computer and a 27-inch flat screen television."
An earlier thread said how Walgreen's said anything could be taken to use in the relief efforts and cops were taking it from the stores to the shelters. And a cop basically said to a looter "I'm too busy to stop you".
(I thought the cop should have said "Help carry this stuff to the shelter and you can have some water and food and I won't shoot you in the kneecap".)