Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

New Orleans police to be pulled off streets
Seattle Times ^ | September 5, 2005 | Chris Adams, Martin Merzer and Susannah A. Nesmith

Posted on 09/05/2005 2:47:58 AM PDT by Uncle Joe Cannon

New Orleans police to be pulled off streets

By Chris Adams, Martin Merzer and Susannah A. Nesmith Knight Ridder Newspapers

NEW ORLEANS — On the seventh day, the mayor of New Orleans said he would surrender control of his shattered city to federal and state officials, and authorities issued dire predictions of the human cost of Hurricane Katrina.

"We need to prepare the country for what's coming," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said yesterday. "We are going to uncover people who died hiding in the houses, maybe got caught in floods. It is going to be as ugly a scene as you can imagine."

Last night, Mayor Ray Nagin said his entire police force would be pulled off the streets by tomorrow and all firefighters, paramedics and emergency dispatchers also were being sidelined. They will be sent to Baton Rouge for evaluation and counseling, he said.

He noted that two police officers committed suicide in recent days, and he said the other uniformed officers were traumatized by recent events. National Guard troops and state law-enforcement officers will replace them, he said.

"I'm not going to sit back and let another one die," Nagin said.

In one incident yesterday, seven men fired at a sheriff's deputy who had been sent to New Orleans from another part of Louisiana. The deputy was hauling a boat to a staging area for a rescue mission at the time, police said. Police officers shot the seven men, police said, killing two.

"The security forces won," Nagin said. "We're going to make this city safe. Anybody out there who has any ideas of doing anything but evacuating — there will be serious consequences."

Also yesterday, clergy and their flocks prayed for the souls of the dead — and for deliverance of the living. "God didn't bring this destruction on us," Vince Munoz of Biloxi, Miss., told 40 people at what little was left of the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Biloxi, where congregants worshipped in an outdoor courtyard.

"It's the nature of the planet since the Garden of Eden," he said. "God is using this to help us reach out to each other."

In a separate incident, a civilian helicopter lay on its side in New Orleans after an apparent crash landing last night. Details weren't immediately available, but early reports said two crew members suffered injuries.

Chertoff's comments and others by federal officials echoed the predictions of state and city officials and seemed designed to condition Americans for death counts that could reach the thousands. President Bush yesterday called Katrina, which struck the area last Monday, a "tidal wave of disaster."

"I think it's evident it's in the thousands," Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said yesterday on CNN before he headed to the area.

Louisiana officials released their first official death toll — 59 — but said they knew of 100 other victims in the state, and they expected the number to soar as attention turned from searching for survivors to recovering the dead.

"We were working for the living, and now we are working for the dead and the living," said Dr. Louis Cataldie, a state medical official in Louisiana. "It's pretty tough, pulling out dead bodies."

In St. Gabriel, La., northwest of New Orleans, authorities guarded a 125,000-square-foot warehouse transformed into a morgue capable of holding more than 1,000 bodies. Residents said trucks, some refrigerated, had been stopping there for days, though no one knew if any bodies had been delivered.

"I wasn't able to help the living," said St. Gabriel Mayor George Grace, "so I was not at all upset about having a suitable place to house the dead."

In the New Orleans area, down this blocked street and around that tattered corner, portions of the city blinked back to life. Some people emerged from their homes for the first time in almost a week; some traffic lights even burst into green, yellow and red.

"Today, Sunday — right now — this is the first time I've come out," said Deborah Phelps, 56, of the Bywater section, near the French Quarter.

Throughout the region, people reached out to each other, often with sad results.

Rescue teams along the upper Gulf Coast struggled to gain access to wrecked inland communities, and when they did reach them, they often discovered bodies.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said 12 dead were found in Laurel, Miss., almost 100 miles inland.

In New Orleans, an odd, eerie sense of serenity was punctuated only by the sound of helicopters hovering above rescue sites.

Missing were the usual post-storm sounds of recovery: the hum of portable generators, the buzz of chain saws clearing roads, the tap-tap-tap of homeowners hammering blue tarpaulins on broken roofs.

One reason: Few survivors remained in the city that little more than a week earlier was home to 485,000 people. Most of the living had been evacuated, but casualties still floated down the streets and lay abandoned on highways.

Still, holdouts refused to leave, to the amazement of appalled volunteers who searched house-to-house through flooded, broken, starving neighborhoods.

At one point, a U.S. Navy helicopter hoisted a resident in a basket, brought her into the helicopter and whisked her away to one of the area's evacuation centers. Her neighbors wept and waved as they watched her go.

They said they were staying behind to care for older residents who refused to leave.

"That is not a reasonable alternative," Chertoff told "Fox News Sunday." "We are not going to be able to have people sitting in houses in the city of New Orleans for weeks and months while we de-water and clean this city."

A water-rescue team from Jefferson County, Ky., worked as hard to persuade people to evacuate as it worked to find them in the first place.

"The ones who didn't want to leave at first are now realizing they're running out of food, water and medicine, and it's time to go," said Eddie Whitworth, a team member.

Whitworth said the rescuers found two families that didn't want to leave the bodies of loved ones, but ultimately they were convinced that they had to save themselves.

Those who insisted on remaining behind included some of the city's quirkiest inhabitants, people such as Larry Wheeler, a disabled Vietnam veteran who sat in a lounge chair outside his apartment on dry but tree-clogged Sophie Wright Place. He smoked a cigarette and listened to the radio.

He pointed to his second-floor apartment. "That's Fort Larry right up there," he said.

Much of the metropolitan area remained flooded, but portions of the city had avoided the floods, though not the chaos provoked by the hurricane and its aftermath.

The sense of danger that was prevalent Thursday and Friday had dissipated but not disappeared. People who had been afraid to come out of their homes for fear of looters finally did so. Police, National Guardsmen and deputy sheriffs from far-away counties and parishes patrolled the city — with weapons at the ready.

In Jefferson Parish, some traffic signals were coming to life. Work crews in lift trucks worked on traffic signals on Causeway Boulevard. On River Road, which hugs the Mississippi River levee, some signals were already on.

To the north, in the overwhelmed city of Baton Rouge, hundreds of evacuees continued to pour into makeshift shelters, often seeking lost relatives.

One man carried a sign with the name of his wife's family scrawled on it. Children searched lists for names of missing siblings. A mother asked volunteers for help finding her daughter. In other developments:

• Oil refiners made progress in restoring some of their lost production capacity. Exxon Mobil, Marathon Oil and offshore pipeline operators said their operations were beginning to ramp up.

• Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., a doctor, worked on patients at the makeshift medical-treatment center at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. Frist said he arrived Saturday and called the progress made at the airport facility "amazing."

"Yesterday was organized chaos," he said. "Today, there's no chaos."

• Emergency managers in Texas and many other parts of the country began coming to grips with the long-term consequences of the mass relocation of Americans generated by Katrina. More than 250,000 Louisiana evacuees are living in Texas. Others were expected as far away as Utah, West Virginia and Iowa.


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Louisiana
KEYWORDS: corrupt; katrina; leo; nationalguard; neworleans; nopd
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140141-144 next last
To: twigs
We need a leader like Maggie Thatcher in New Orleans NOW!

Not just in New Orleans, buddy. Not just in New Orleans.

121 posted on 09/05/2005 9:55:27 AM PDT by Wormwood (Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 118 | View Replies]

To: maryz

Please see my post #119 so i don't have to repeat it.


122 posted on 09/05/2005 9:55:38 AM PDT by uncitizen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Wormwood

Oh, I agree! I was just responding to a sexist who didn't think women have any leadership abilities.


123 posted on 09/05/2005 9:59:11 AM PDT by twigs
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 121 | View Replies]

To: uncitizen

People have seen such horrific things in war. In Vietnam, During WWII and managed to live with those memories. I'm very suspicious about these suicides.
.....

One of the suicide officers was reported to have lost his entire (immediate?) family in the LA hurricane so it's plausable. Back when the stock market crashed right before the depression many people who lost all their money jumped to their deaths from high rise buildings because they couldn't cope. Some people can cope better than others. I feel bad for these two officers. It's why it's so necessary to keep the survivors moving forward physically as well as psychologically. Clean up, rest up and get them functioning again.


124 posted on 09/05/2005 10:04:08 AM PDT by SunnySide (Ephes2:8 ByGraceYou'veBeenSavedThruFaithAGiftOfGodSoNoOneCanBoast)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator
Compare and contrast the NYPD and NYFD during 9/11 with the NOPD. Not a pretty picture.

See my posts 39 and 49
125 posted on 09/05/2005 10:08:06 AM PDT by uncbob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 110 | View Replies]

To: uncitizen

You just didn't give any reason in your original post for being "suspicious" of the suicides -- murder? insurance fraud? faking death to avoid prosecution?


126 posted on 09/05/2005 10:11:57 AM PDT by maryz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 122 | View Replies]

To: uncitizen

You just didn't give any reason in your original post for being "suspicious" of the suicides -- murder? insurance fraud? faking death to avoid prosecution?


127 posted on 09/05/2005 10:11:58 AM PDT by maryz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 122 | View Replies]

To: rawhide
2 Observations:

The cops/firemen etal were pulled as they have become counterproductive. They are counterproductive because they are fried, gone, corrupt or incompetent, probably some of each.

This has now become a MILITARY operation, not a law enforcement operation. They have to clean out the thugs, its Faluja (sp) in the good ol USA.

This is a very sad day.

schu
128 posted on 09/05/2005 10:22:37 AM PDT by schu
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: Uncle Joe Cannon
I noticed that the police recruiter is a relative of the Govenor of Lousianna:

New Orleans Police Foundation Elodia Blanco, Recruiting Coordinator
400 Poydras St. Suite 1940
New Orleans, La. 70130
1-888-NOPD-YES (toll free) or 504-566-7404

http://www.nopdonline.com/rec1.htm

129 posted on 09/05/2005 10:26:38 AM PDT by Fawn (Being a FREE COUNTRY doesn't mean EVERYTHING'S FOR FREE!!!!!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: All
Bush is showing up in LA today, pretty soon he is going to give Blanco the Nagin treatment: "get it together or get out of the way".

We have been given two dress-reheasals now, 911 and this, very costly and painful. Al Queda is watching, when they strike again, I hope we do better than our performance in NO.
130 posted on 09/05/2005 10:35:47 AM PDT by schu
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 128 | View Replies]

To: Uncle Joe Cannon

"New Orleans police to be pulled off streets "

Will it make any difference ?


131 posted on 09/05/2005 10:38:21 AM PDT by traumer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Becki

Maybe he's just... 'sexually-confused'. ;^)


132 posted on 09/05/2005 10:43:43 AM PDT by johnny7 (“And now, little man, I give the watch to you.”)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 114 | View Replies]

To: Uncle Joe Cannon

Pulling the NOPD?


About the smartest thing I've heard out of that city government since this started.


133 posted on 09/05/2005 11:45:02 AM PDT by trubluolyguy (Life is short, dance nekkid and wiggle your butt!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Uncle Joe Cannon
"I'm not going to sit back and let another one die," Nagin said.

Unbelievable.

134 posted on 09/05/2005 1:56:39 PM PDT by Graymatter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: billclintonwillrotinhell
It may be politically incorrect to say this, but when the hell is the media going to start blaming the stubborn citizens who refused to evacuate for all this chaos?

NEVER. Just as the liberal MSM will never place one shread of blame on state and local officials. It's "Blame Bush Fest 2005". Any other scenerio is irrelevent to them.

135 posted on 09/05/2005 2:02:23 PM PDT by LisaMalia (In memory of Marine Lance Cpl. Aaron Reed...KIA Barwanah, Iraq 8-3-05)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Lessismore

The People of New Orleans were told to evacuate those who stayed....did not.

They guessed wrong.

They (we) have all been told to have 3 days food and water.. they had not.

They did not prepare.

The Governor was in command of the National Guard...
...she did not.

She is incompetent.

FEMA is supposed to be able to improvise and adapt...
...they cannot (Reportedly ordering away some 100 Volunteers and boats)when they had no equivalent assets)

They are government functionaries..
..smart... they are not.


Blame George Bush?

We cannot.

Wm

He is not.


136 posted on 09/05/2005 3:28:26 PM PDT by WLR (Elitism is a mental disorder, contagious and deadly)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: Uncle Joe Cannon
Last night, Mayor Ray Nagin said his entire police force would be pulled off the streets by tomorrow ... He noted that two police officers committed suicide in recent days, ... "I'm not going to sit back and let another one die," Nagin said.

Mayor Nagin is proof that man can mate with buffalo.
137 posted on 09/05/2005 5:37:44 PM PDT by festus (The constitution may be flawed but its a whole lot better than what we have now.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: yankeedame
And what are you do if they put their hands on their hips, give you that looks and announce: "H--- no! I ain't gonna sign nuthin' and I ain't gonna give ya no name of no relatvie either..."

Tranquilizer dart ;)

LQ

138 posted on 09/05/2005 6:38:25 PM PDT by LizardQueen (The world is not out to get you, except in the sense that the world is out to get everyone.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 95 | View Replies]

To: twigs
We need a leader like Maggie Thatcher in New Orleans NOW!

Or maybe TWIGS?

I told you in my post that I wasn't making a generalization about ALL women.

Margaret Thather, Golda Mayer, Jeane Kirkpatrick, etc., or some female along those lines would be about right to lead New Orleans, or the state of LA about now.

139 posted on 09/05/2005 7:43:03 PM PDT by DocH (Gun-grabbers, you can HAVE my guns... lead first.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 118 | View Replies]

To: twigs
We need a leader like Maggie Thatcher in New Orleans NOW!

Or maybe TWIGS?

I told you in my post that I wasn't making a generalization about ALL women.

Margaret Thather, Golda Mayer, Jeane Kirkpatrick, etc., or some female along those lines would be about right to lead New Orleans, or the state of LA about now.

140 posted on 09/05/2005 7:43:04 PM PDT by DocH (Gun-grabbers, you can HAVE my guns... lead first.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 118 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140141-144 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson