In which case, the military/police should have cased off all the grocery stores, pharmacies, etc, confiscated all necessaties, inventoried them for future payment and began distributing them at official check points. This is irresponsability on the part of the government and heads had better roll by the dozens in NO.
Are you frickin' kidding me?
"Dispatch the emergency accountants, chief."
I wouldn't be so quick to gather heads. The police and military understandibly propritized sacing lives over protecting property. However, it's now clear that looting is a question of both -- it's a question of how to make sure that food and other necessities get into the hands of those who need them most, and not those who get there first and can cart off the most (and probably gouge their neighbors for the surplus.
I strongly suspect that cities will draw up such plans now, in the form of standing orders to officers. One of the problems I heard about today was that radio coverage is spotty -- no dispatchers or repeaters, and even the hand-held radios have to be wearing down after a couple of days without being able to recharge them.
One cop said yesterday that a lot of them were meeting up in small groups, half a dozen or so, and improbising a plan when they couldn't cordinate with HQ. That' s not something beat cops are really trained to do, but maybe now they will be.
The ideal would be for neighborhoods to work out a plan -- with or without government involvement -- to seize and distribute available necessities. But let's face it -- anyone with the ability to cordinate such a thing with no more communications than a bullhorn was smart and able enough to get out of town.