The first reports of possible fatalities came out of Gulfport, Mississippi, even as the storm was still raging. Gulfport police officer Jason Payne gets into his patrol car as Hurricane Katrina continues to rage at the Thomasville Apartments in Biloxi, August 29, after officers rescued a woman trapped in the rubble of a fallen brick wall that crashed through her roof, breaking several bones. If officers in Gulfport had the command, control and communications necessary to respond like this even during the storm, why did the NOPD lose all command-and-control functions?
A New Orleans city police car with its rear window broken is abandoned in flood waters on Canal Street in downtown New Orleans August 29. The NOPD clearly knew on Monday that flood waters were rising in the city. Why did city officials wait until Friday before moving people to the dry west bank of the city?
