Law Officers, Overwhelmed, Are Quitting the Force

NYtimes ^ | September 4, 2005 | JOSEPH B. TREASTER

[Jet Jaguar]

NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 3 - Reeling from the chaos of this overwhelmed city, at least 200 New Orleans police officers have walked away from their jobs and two have committed suicide, police officials said Saturday.

Some officers officially told their superiors they were leaving, police officials said. Others worked for a while and then stopped showing up. Still others, for reasons not always clear, never made it in after the storm.

The absences come during a period of extraordinary stress for the New Orleans Police Department. For nearly a week, many of its 1,500 members have had to work around the clock, trying to cope with flooding, an overwhelming crush of refugees, looters and occasional snipers.

P. Edwin Compass III, the superintendent of police, said most of his officers were staying at their posts. But in an unusual note of sympathy for a top police official, he said it was understandable that many were frustrated. He said morale was "not very good" after nearly a week of deprivation and danger.

[rwilson99]

Thank God these losers weren't in NY during 9/11.

The cops who ditched their uniforms and kept their police cars should be put in jail.

[concerned about politics]

The absences come during a period of extraordinary stress for the New Orleans Police Department. For nearly a week, many of its 1,500 members have had to work around the clock, trying to cope with flooding, an overwhelming crush of refugees, looters and occasional snipers.

I feel sorry for them. They had to do everything. There was no leadership, and no one was doing anything. The people were looking to them and them alone until Bush took over. Now that the Feds are in control, these guys can just flip NO the bird for the way they were used.
I guess the Governor and the mayor felt the hurricane was just a little "nuisance" or just something that should be considered a "law enforcement problem."
I'll bet they're glad Bush took over that mess. If he hadn't, people would still be dying down there, and the governor would be still be screaming " It was Gore who really won the 2000 election!"

[Sthitch]

There is no more corrupt city in the developed world than New Orleans. What other city can you think of where the FBI (or another country's equivalent) has taped a police officer contracting the murder of a witness? I am sure that you can find an example, but in New Orleans it was systemic.
Yesterday I had a Brazilian friend of mine tell me why he loved New Orleans so much, he described it as Rio's northern suburb. I will spare you his rational, but it makes quite a bit of sense.

[cwb]

This chaos was a result of the passive attitude that both the governor and mayor took immediately after the hurricane passed. How can you expect your cops to enforce any law and order when you have the state's own Attorney General practically justifying the looting that occured?

And Blanco is more responsible, as she put politics above protect and serve. She just wouldn't let her law enforcement officials (including the Guard) be aggressive for fear they might kill these same "poor, black people" whose actions they were excusing for days. She could forget about the black vote. Now, she can forget about any vote.

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

NO PD was known across the country among other PD;s that it was one of the worst and most corrupt police depts. BTW, the regulations were the police officer HAD to live within the city limits.

Ah, Hellll....just redesign all of the rebuilt NO as a Naval Base!

[the invisib1e hand]

nothing like commitment, and selfless, civic minded public service.

[battlegearboat]

Now the carriage is stuck and it won't return, plus that tape got ink all ove my fingers.

[Jonx6]

ping

[rednek]

I just left a baseball game in OKC and sat in front of an FBI agent and talked with him during the game. According to him, NO police dept is authorized 2100 officers. Before the storm, normal attrition had reduced the force to 1800 active officers on duty. He stated there are now less than 800 NOPD officers (1000+ have quit). Many have just walked off the job and disappeared. Others have joined the street gangs. Federal law enforcement is heavily involved and many of the NOPD will be in jail when it is all over. Federal SWAT teams have been operating for several days and "taking out the trash". He says there is much going on behind the scenes that most people will never know about, but the house cleaning has been underway for several days and progress has been substantial.

It will be interesting to see what the MSM picks up and how they report this (if they ever do)

regards - red

[rineaux]

NO KIDDING, for some of these officers taken their lives is horrible. Some of these guys put up with a lot of crap during Mardi Gras. But it must have been some overwhelming consequences to take a bullet to your head. Weak mind? I don't know. Lost home, lost family, etc, most likely. Maybe pinned down by gangs (white I bet)and decided to kill him/herself instead of letting them win.

In the last 15 years, the City of New Orleans Police Department has dropped the standard of acceptance into the academy. The PD has been under state and federal investigation for multiple violations including the killing of witnesses for drug dealers, bribes, etc. Some officers are doing time for these crimes.

I am sadden by what has happened to a City I grew up in. I can just thank the political leaders that have been around for the last 24 years who have not done a GDthing to improve the situation there.

Now we take the refugee's here in Texas, Florida, and Arkansas. We will see what happens.

[claudiustg]

Of course it's Bush's fault, though.

[LdSentinal]

"I'm leaving the New Orleans police force to loot for shoes in Wal-Mart."

[stylin19a]

I saw that statement and I still don't understand it. It seems the reverse is true. If the FEDS were able to take it away, the locals could have blamed everything on the feds.
What am I missing ?
thanx

[Peach]

You aren't missing anything. The reverse would be true; it's just CYA by the Louisiana officials. And even their CYA doesn't make sense.

[GeronL]

Nothing else like those 086 model notebooks

[kublia khan]

Believe me they are still lurking. Dillusions die hard

[DB]

On most the video I saw of NO cops they were 300lbs+. Way over weight. They couldn't chase much of anything.

[pepsionice]

There is no doubt that via the corruption factor...NO is number one. One might suggest Chicago or New York...but NO has corruption across the entire spectrum. If you want to change a property zone...you have to bag at least one city council guy. If you need special security because you've been robbed three times in one year...then either you hire a private guard or deal with the corrupt police department. The city survives of three basic things...permanent around the year tourism, oil money, and corruption.

But here is an interesting scenario. This city will be closed down for at least 60 days before anyone is allowed to step back in. It will be six months before the infrastructure is 100 percent and sanitary there. Jobs and normalization...won't even begin to occur till May of 2006....and even this it will be 18 percent unemployment in the city for several years before tourism reaches its former state. Those corrupt city officials and department officials...aren't going to find ready cash flowing. Fed money is going to flow via Fed methods...to prevent corruption. Alot of the down&out folks aren't going to come back to NO...they will stay in Houston or Dallas...resettling permanently there. So maybe the corruption situation will evolve and dry up over the next two years. It is possible.

[Sthitch]

I cannot imagine that many of the poorer evacuees will not return to New Orleans. I am hoping that this tragic event will change the state of political affairs in New Orleans and Louisiana in the opposite way that the Mississippi flood of 1927 changed it for the worse.
The racial hucksters can try and get the slums rebuilt, but they cannot make the people return. I doubt that they will.

[U S Army EOD]

But meanwhile in Pass Christian, MS the entire of police force of 26 literally clung to trees and bushes (14 of them in one red tip) for dear life for hours trying to survive a thirty foot + tidal surge and hurricane force winds. They counted heads, all survived somehow, and went to work saving others.