Posted on 09/05/2005 5:33:12 PM PDT by SmithL
BATON ROUGE, La. - Fed up with the criticism, New Orleans Police Superintendent Eddie Compass said Monday that his officers held their ground without food, water and even ammunition in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
"In the annals of history, no police department in the history of the world was asked to do what we (were) asked," Compass said with a mix of anger and pride.
Two police officers killed themselves. Another was shot in the head. Compass said 150 had to be rescued from eight feet of water and others had gotten infections from walking through the murky soup of chemicals and pollutants in flooded areas of the city.
Compass denied that police officers deserted in droves. Some officers had abandoned their jobs, he said, but he did not know how many. He said the department was doing a roll call.
At a news conference earlier Monday in New Orleans, Deputy Police Superintendent Warren Riley said between 400 and 500 officers on the 1,600-member police force are unaccounted for.
Some lost their homes and some are looking for their families. "Some simply left because they said they could not deal with the catastrophe," Riley said.
The officers still on the beat in the flooded city are being cycled off duty and given five-day vacations in Las Vegas and Atlanta, where they will be offered counseling, officials said.
Compass, visiting the emergency operations center in Baton Rouge on his first trip outside New Orleans since the storm hit, said New Orleans had police officers "who made the ultimate sacrifice for this city."
"We had no food. We had no water. We ran out of ammunition. We had no vehicles. We were fighting in waist deep water that was infected and polluted," he said.
Compass said the looting and criminal activity involved a small group of people preying on the weak after being thrust into evacuation areas with regular citizens.
As for reports that police stood by while women were raped and people were beaten, the chief responded: "Are you crazy? We did everything that was humanly possible to protect human life."
Without communication or lights, officers sometimes had to follow the traces of light made by fired weapons and physically wrest the guns from individuals' hands, Compass said. He said he did not know how many people were shot by police since Katrina came ashore.
When asked what he thought of federal and state officials' response to the storm, Compass did not offer criticism.
"I'm not a bureaucrat. I'm a police chief. Those type of questions I don't really answer," he said. "We needed more resources, but those resources didn't come."
Shades of Reno 911.
The cops who 1) stayed and 2) did their job are heroes.
I guess they should have spent less time stocking up on DVD's & tennis shoes!
One "ahhh sh*t" wipes out 100 "Atta Boys"
A few here know what that means
Can you imagine if he were a Bush appointee?
Kudos to that. I saw plenty of video of cops desperately trying to do their jobs when they had no backup and no communications of any sort. I have also read that they expect to find many dead police riddled with bullet holes throughout the city before this is all over.
Kudos to that. I saw plenty of video of cops desperately trying to do their jobs when they had no backup and no communications of any sort. I have also read that they expect to find many dead police riddled with bullet holes throughout the city before this is all over.
...and probably a lot more understand the concept.
:-D )))
Oops sorry...slow server today.
Bingo. Especially considering the seemingly credible stories of a major ongoing federal investigation of the NOPD and the endless accusations of a corrupt force.
What better time to take out a potential witness or settle a drug money related dispute.
And just because the NOPD claims they can "account" for 66% of their officers does NOT mean that they are present and at their post.
We'll probably never know what really happened to those 2 officers, but considering it was/is so easy for them to just walk away suicide just seems too convenient.
Sheesh.
We need to pray for the good people in Louisiana.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1476884/posts
I'm sure these fine officeres will show up on payday...If they ran out of ammo how much did they have to begin with?
I had huge arguments with family members who think everything possible was done before and after the storm. My sis hadnt even heard that there was a disaster plan which included buses to use if needed. MSM hides the truth from all.
Ayup, that's true. And they may even have been in the majority. But I doubt it.
Yep. Both of 'em
You know if I was standing around telling people to dump loot and then letting them go to loot some more while they grew even more emboldened and the city descended into anarchy - I would say f'it and go home and protect my family. If the situation changed, leadership appeared with a plan to stop the madness - I would come back.
I don't blame those cops ONE bit.
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