Posted on 09/01/2005 7:16:17 AM PDT by TheForceOfOne
NEW ORLEANS Mayor Ray Nagin ordered 1,500 police officers to leave their search-and-rescue mission last night and return to the streets to stop looting that has turned increasingly hostile as the city plunges deeper into chaos.
"They are starting to get closer to heavily populated areas hotels, hospitals and we're going to stop it right now," Nagin said.
The number of officers called off the search-and-rescue mission amounts to virtually the entire police force in New Orleans.
The out-of-control thievery had escalated while cops joined National Guardsmen in focusing on saving lives.
In some cases, New Orleans police officers took part in the looting. One cop was seen carting off a computer and a 27-inch flat-screen TV, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
Earlier yesterday, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blan- co said she has asked the White House to send more people to help with evacuations and rescues, thereby freeing up National Guardsmen to stop looters.
The looting got worse as people brazenly ran- sacked stores for food, beer, clothing, appliances and guns.
There have been some citizen-vs.-criminal standoffs, with one shopkeeper posting an ominous sign: "You loot, I shoot."
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Actually, there is quite a bit of looting in FL, and they arrest them, so they pretty much know they won't get shot.
Exactly. These scum are not merely primitive, they are positively feral. They do not deserve to live. They should be gunned down in the street and left to rot in the water.
Order must be re-established by whatever means necessary. An example must be made.
Because they are stupid, and they just want to steal. I think to a lot of them, a pile of useless dvds means something. I haven't seen any of them with vehicles though, just people walking through water.
I would guess they are stealing drugs. I think there is a difference between looting tvs from an unoccupied Circuit City, and breaking into an occupied old folks home or hospital. Those people should be dealt with accordingly.
It's not compassion that drives my thinking, it's the fact that I hold human life to be of much greater value than manufactured goods.
I'm in Virginia, I hardly think anything I say or do, has any impact on dowtown NO.
YES, the armed ones, especially those shooting at helicopters as they try to medivac people and the ones on roof tops protecting their homies robbing jewelry stores below.........
Apparently you were born with acute tunnel vision, and built-in blinders.
I really don't think the lady I saw kicking in a door yesterday, is out on the streets with an AK today.
I agree, which is why I purchased a Springfield M1A several years ago...
...to go along with my AR-15....
...and my M1....
...and my Remington 870...
...etc.
"It's pretty obvious that many, perhaps most, of the people who didn't evacuate NO actually planned to use this opportunity to loot."
I never thought of that until you mentioned it!
I never even suggested that.
I wouldn't brag too much about Southern shooting. Look at General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson (Chancellorsville 1863) or General James Longstreet (Wilderness 1864). Both shot accidentally by their own (Southern) men.
Seriously though, there are some great marksmen from all over this country. It is not neccessarily a regional skill. I was born and raised in New Jersey and grew up around guns and shooters. As a kid I earned several NRA marksmanship awards. Pretty much every kid (male) I grew up with in the 70's-80's, knew how to shoot and hunt.
The looters were out as soon as the wind and rain started. They weren't getting food and water -- they were looting shoes, clothing, electronics, and alcohol from the beginning.
The "oh the poor hungry thirsty pitiful people" refrain simply enables the predators. The mayor and governor missed their opportunity to stop this cold by saying stuff like "we're not happy about looting" (the governor). They probably were feeling guilty because they did not have a plan in place, but their "I'm not looking!" attitude gave permission to the looters, who promptly stepped up their efforts.
If there had been no looting of any kind, there could have been orderly distribution of food and water to the elderly, sick, and children.
There were a number of looters killed last night...
That is what I have been saying all along. If someone is armed, take appropriate action, if they have arms full of merchandise, forget about them, and rescue those in need, or apprehend the ones that are armed. Why kill someone that is too stupid to know they can't use a waterlogged computer.
I agree with you that it's not a northern/southern thing -- more of a rural/urban thing. But since Southerners are still overwhelmingly more rural than Northeasterners, I think your average Bubba is gonna be a better shot than the average New Jerseyite (even if he's from Camden < ouch >).
And as for friendly fire, put it down to the fog of war, not presence or absence of marksmanship. It happens.
I haven't mentioned any poor hungry thirsty people. I'm not offering any excuses for anyone. I just do not believe that stealing a tv, warrants the death penalty.
When your city is flooded and has NO BASIC INFRASTRUCTURE, and looting is going on you IMMEDIATELY:
DECLARE MARTIAL LAW
SEND IN THE NATIONAL GUARD WITH AUTHORIZATION TO MAINTAIN ORDER, INCLUDING SHOOT TO KILL.
ASK FOR MILITARY ASSISTANCE.
BEGIN EVACUATIONS IMMEDIATELY.
NO WAITED TO DO ANY OF THESE THINGS FOR NEARLY 48 HOURS, and STILL HAS NOT DONE OTHERS!
THE GOVERNOR AND MAYOR OF LA/NO are completely INCOMPETENT.
. . . and I forgot to mention, I've still got all my NRA Junior Marksmanship Program pins!
There. Fixed.
If human life is so much more important than manufactured goods, what's your full street address? Next hurricane that hit's VA, I'll show up on your doorstep to loot your manufactured goods with no repercusions I guess.
By your presence here on FR, you apparently claim to be a conservative. But you understand very little about private property rights.
It's causing the total breakdown of civil order that warrants the death penalty.
If you look the other way while ANY looting is going on, it escalates, and innocent people die. Because the TV looters were not stopped, they moved on to looting guns, then they carjacked nursing home buses and ambulances and looted hospitals. Now they have formed gangs and are protecting "their" turf by shooting at folks in john-boats trying to rescue people stranded on roofs. So the people who have been baking in 95 degree heat for days on black tar roofs are going to DIE . . . because people like you are trying to draw impossible distinctions among "types" of looting. It cannot be done.
This sort of breakdown of civilization has happened before, and it ALWAYS happens when civil authority looks the other way at looting. That is why looters are traditionally shot on sight.
But people with no experience in natural disasters and a misplaced sense of pity are going to have to learn that same lesson all over again. Meanwhile, they have imposed the death penalty -- just not on the looters, but on the totally innocent and helpless victims of the flood.
At least think of something original.
If you want to kill somone over your tv, go ahead.
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