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New Orleans Didn’t Just Go Nuts -- It’s Been Nuts
Human Events Online ^ | Sept 6, 2005 | Mac Johnson

Posted on 09/07/2005 10:52:24 PM PDT by cowdog77

"First out of the gate were the Holy Men of the Cult of Global Warming, who couldn’t wait for the first dead to wash up before they declared the Hurricane irrefutable proof of Global Warming and a direct responsibility of George W. Bush.

Next up were the racial ambulance chasers, always looking for another grievous injury to add to their political caseload. Looking at the Sea of Black faces abandoned without transportation, food, water or protection, they somehow managed to look past the City’s Black Mayor, Black Police Chief, Black City Council members and all the other Black office holders that run the 67% Black city, and found that the whole thing was: white folks’ fault. Yet another example of racism at its worst.

This opened up a torrent of Bush-bashing, since he was the closest Republican that had any responsibility for the City. The Democratic Governor of Louisiana -- though white -- was merely a victim of the whole thing it seems, just like the Mayor of New Orleans. Nobody has any power in this world other than George Bush. Nobody has any responsibility. George Bush is now the navel of the world for his enemies. If a butterfly flaps its wings in Central Park, it’s George Bush’s fault. And the butterfly is racist. And it was blown there by Global Warming.

And at some point during the disaster, the most disturbing of all the infighting began. The thugs of New Orleans turned on their neighbors like a Mongol horde. Looting erupted, as did arson and robberies, shootings and beatings. Rape became an organized crime as gangs preyed on the defenseless stranded girls of New Orleans. Pharmacies were looted and hospitals were surrounded and invaded in a manic hunt for drugs. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin couldn’t stop such junkie armies from destroying much of what was left of the City’s medical infrastructure, but he could excuse them, explaining that it was all just people “looking for something to take the edge off their jones, if you will.” Actually, no, I won’t. (The mayor added a few minutes later in the same interview: “You know, I'm not one of those drug addicts. I am thinking very clearly.” And nobody said different, Mayor.)

Barbarians with an edgy jones shot a cop in the head, shot a national guardsman, halted life-saving evacuations by firing on helicopters and humvees. Police had to mow down a gang of six shooting at contractors who came to repair the levee breaches. A group of white civilians that came into the city in private boats to save as many refugees as they could -- giving lie to the racism howls of the media -- gave up and turned back because people began shooting at them, trying to take their boats.

Soldiers who should be concentrating on rescue operations are carrying full battle gear through the streets of an American City, opening doors with rifles at the ready. Overnight, it seems, The Big Easy had become Thunderdome, and Mad Max was nowhere to be found. In the middle of the worst American natural disaster in over a century, gang warfare, anti-authority psychosis and individual malevolence finished off the hope of tens of thousands that had survived the flood. It did more to demoralize the nation than the storm had done.

What happened?

The storm may have triggered the violence, but it did not cause it. What we saw in New Orleans was what happens in America’s most murderous city when the criminals realize that all the cops have left.

It wasn’t desperation, or insanity, or protest. It was New Orleans, without police.

Many people believe that Washington, D.C., is the “murder capital of America.” And indeed it often is, but that is only because such rankings are limited to “major cities” –those with a population of 500,000 or more, and New Orleans has (or had) a population of 485,000. Were it not for this actuarial accident, Washington, D.C.. wouldn’t even have a shot at the murder title. The per capita murder rate in New Orleans is 16% higher than in “Murder Capital” Washington, D.C.; and nearly 10 times the national average. To have a murder rate equal to that of New York City, New Orleans would need to reduce its murders by 86%. No, that’s not a typo.

At a time when crime is plummeting in most of America, it has been steadily increasing in New Orleans. And one cause is simple: The New Orleans City Government has run its law enforcement apparatus into the ground. On a per capita basis, New Orleans has less than half as many cops as Washington, D.C.: just 3.1 police officers per 1,000 citizens. Turnover has become a huge issue, as young cops leave at the first opportunity. A report conducted for the city two years ago said that New Orleans was “bleeding police officers.”

The strain shows. Fewer than one in four murder cases in New Orleans results in a conviction. 42% of violent offenders have their charges dropped by prosecutors because the cases are “not suitable for court.” Many in New Orleans will not now testify against the thugs that they know -- more likely than not -- are going to be released Scot-free. People don’t even bother calling the police in New Orleans anymore. In 2004, academic Researchers conducted an experiment in which they had police fire 700 blank rounds into the air, in a single afternoon, in one neighborhood. No one -- not one person -- called to report the gunfire. It was background noise.

The report on police levels mentioned above stated that New Orleans needs 2,000 cops just to maintain order in normal times. When Katrina struck, the city had only 1,700. No more than 1,500 are on duty now, after dislocation, desertions, resignations, and two suicides.

There is no wonder the place went chaotic. There should be no mystery. It is barely under control on a good day.

Why are the cops leaving? They are utterly demoralized. They face low pay to fight a losing war against crime in a city that will not commit resources to the battle. “We have to use our own shotguns," one patrolman was quoted in the New York Times. "This isn't theirs; this is my personal gun."

They are demoralized because they have to bear the reputation of working in what is widely acknowledged as the most corrupt police department in the country. More than fifty NOPD officers were sent to prison in the 1990’s, two of them to death row.

They are demoralized because they have to live in New Orleans, due to a strict residency requirement for police. And unless you are wealthy enough to live in the perpetual party of the Vieux Carre, New Orleans is not a nice place to live -- especially for those with children. 84% of officers with children reported sending them to private or parochial schools, at their own expense. That’s quite an endorsement of Mayor Nagin’s schools.

So they leave, and are not replaced. It is not just “white flight” either, for those that want to see the world through racial lenses. Most of those leaving are black officers.

All this is not to say that New Orleans has had no plan to reduce its high crime statistics. For a while, one police district tried lying about the statistics. It meant letting some violent thugs go (and with an edge on their joneses, I’m told), but it was cheaper than fighting real crime; and it kept the tourists coming.

Asked if such lying meant that perhaps the NOPD should have its stats audited by an outside agency, Police Chief Eddie Compass stated, “I don't need an outside agency coming in. I think we have proven that we are capable of taking care of our own house.”

This is the same Chief that now screams on camera for outside agencies to just take over. The overnight crisis we saw in New Orleans this week has been a long time coming. It was just the bursting of a purulent boil that has been festering for years.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; US: Louisiana
KEYWORDS: barbarism; bluezone; crime; katrina; murders; neworleans; nola; nopd; police; rapes; welfarestate
Indeed....it was New Orleans....sans police.
1 posted on 09/07/2005 10:52:25 PM PDT by cowdog77
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To: cowdog77

But they had good food, and music.


2 posted on 09/07/2005 10:55:28 PM PDT by pcottraux
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To: cowdog77

My son went to loyola and got out right before hell broke lose. Now at another school for the semester. After reading this, I don't want him to go back.


3 posted on 09/07/2005 11:03:44 PM PDT by tbird5
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To: cyborg; Translates; mhking; rdb3

dude says what I've BEEN saying for ten days...


4 posted on 09/07/2005 11:13:29 PM PDT by King Prout (and the Clinton Legacy continues: like Herpes, it is a gift that keeps on giving.)
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To: pcottraux

----But they had good food, and music.----

And it was the birthplace of jazz!!! The birthplace of jazz!!! The birthplace of jazz!!! The birthplace of jazz!!! The birthplace of jazz!!! (Heard from the national media about this third-world hellhole approx. 900,000 times)

-Dan

5 posted on 09/07/2005 11:14:34 PM PDT by Flux Capacitor (Trust me. I know what I'm doing.)
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To: King Prout
All the mayhem in New Orleans-----it was obvious, this was not a new thing. People DO NOT, normally, morph into robbers, rapists, and murderers, overnight, even when under duress! We have seen to many other Americans become the very best under horrific circumstances.
6 posted on 09/07/2005 11:36:37 PM PDT by singfreedom ("Victory at all costs,.......for without victory there is no survival."--Churchill--that's "Winston")
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To: singfreedom

lived in NOLA from 1988 to 1995
I am not at all surprised by the chaos - save that it never got quite as bad as I expected it to.


7 posted on 09/07/2005 11:52:06 PM PDT by King Prout (and the Clinton Legacy continues: like Herpes, it is a gift that keeps on giving.)
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To: singfreedom
All the mayhem in New Orleans-----it was obvious, this was not a new thing. People DO NOT, normally, morph into robbers, rapists, and murderers, overnight, even when under duress! We have seen to many other Americans become the very best under horrific circumstances.

I keep thinking of the big black out on the east coast two years ago. During the black out, people didn't rape, riot and loot. People behaved themselves until electricity was restored. Unlike New Orleans.
8 posted on 09/07/2005 11:53:58 PM PDT by Ticonderoga34
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To: Flux Capacitor

JAZZ SUX.


9 posted on 09/08/2005 12:14:00 AM PDT by Razz Barry
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To: cowdog77

My gut is roiling from reading the truth. Stay armed, stay strong, stay safe, for we have now all seen government throw it's citizens onto their own security hook without a moments warning.


10 posted on 09/08/2005 1:20:16 AM PDT by Ursus arctos horribilis ("It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!" Emiliano Zapata 1879-1919)
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To: Razz Barry

JAZZ SUX.

Yeah, since Karl Malone and John Stockton retired, they haven't been much.


11 posted on 09/08/2005 4:24:55 AM PDT by moog
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To: King Prout
When Fargo, ND flooded back in the 90s, you didn't see this kind of behavior.
12 posted on 09/08/2005 4:27:19 AM PDT by Uncle Vlad
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To: Ursus arctos horribilis

Yep, sure makes you want to welcome them all with open arms in Texas!


13 posted on 09/08/2005 12:01:21 PM PDT by cowdog77
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To: cowdog77

But now Ray Nagin, that worthless piece of scheiss, is in DALLAS!
And he's saying, "Thanks for taking care of these people, but you can't keep them!"

Not to worry RAY: if they'd vote for a jerkwad like you, there's no place for them in Texas.


14 posted on 09/09/2005 6:23:39 PM PDT by Redbob
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To: cowdog77

Wow. Just... wow. And I thought it was miserable being a teacher in Los Angeles. Sounds like being a cop in New Orleans was way, way, waaaaay worse.


15 posted on 09/09/2005 6:25:28 PM PDT by wizardoz
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To: cowdog77
"They are demoralized because they have to live in New Orleans, due to a strict residency requirement for police."

A method used by New Orleans and other black run American cities to keep whites who live in the
surrounding suburbs off the police force and
out of city government agencies.

16 posted on 09/09/2005 6:43:11 PM PDT by StormEye
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