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NO Police LT. tries to justify his desertion during Katrina disaster (CNN transcripts)
CNN Transcrtipts ^ | 9/19/05

Posted on 09/20/2005 9:49:12 AM PDT by Dane

PAULA ZAHN: Well, because of all the chaos after Katrina, many New Orleans police officers, as I have just said, simply vanished. And their fellow officers called them all that and more. Well, tonight, for the first time, in an exclusive report, you're about to hear from one of those who left, a high-ranking officer, and hear why he made that choice.

Here's Jason Carroll.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you doing, man? Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!

(CROSSTALK)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the days of lawlessness, looting and flooding, something happened few people in New Orleans imagines was possible. Hundreds of police officers, like Lieutenant Henry Waller, abandoned their fellow officers and thousands of evacuees when they were needed most.

LT. HENRY WALLER, NEW ORLEANS POLICE DEPARTMENT: I defend it by saying that I left them in a bad situation, but I have would have been leaving my wife in a worse situation.

Snip

H. WALLER: The one time that I know that I did the right thing and made the right decision, it's going to vilify me, that's difficult to deal with.

Snip.

H. WALLER: We listened to the radio. And we're hearing the things, the water is still rising. The water is still rising. The water is still rising. The looting is this. The looting is that.

Snip

H. WALLER: I got with another lieutenant in the First District, who essentially told me, look, you're a supervisor. You can't scare these guys. If they know you're scared, they're going to be scared. And I said, flat out, I said, you know what? I am scared. Everybody here is scared. And the bottom line is, I'm not going to tell these guys everything is going to be OK when it's not going to be OK.

(Excerpt) Read more at transcripts.cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; US: Louisiana
KEYWORDS: katrina
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To: jw777

His family was out of town. You wanna rephrase your snide comment?


21 posted on 09/20/2005 10:02:58 AM PDT by teenyelliott (Soylent green should be made outta liberals...)
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To: Dane

As soon as Hillary becomes President she will pardon them as Carter did the draft dodgers years ago. Heck, she will even give them metals!

(Gag.)


22 posted on 09/20/2005 10:03:31 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (ISLAM. The religion of the criminally insane.)
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To: Pylot

Their families should have been out of town.


23 posted on 09/20/2005 10:03:34 AM PDT by MamaB (mom to an angel)
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To: highlymotivated

"One point is, when the city pays cops a poverty wage, don't be surprised when thugs get recruited and stiff like this happens. You get what you pay for. NOPD was vastly underpaid and acted like it."

I agree with you that we horribly under pay our police officers just about everywhere in this country and we ask a lot of them.

That doesn't justify abandoning your duty when you are needed.

If you're not going to do the job, don't take the job.

They took the job and accepted the responsibility.

It's quite possible that police departments could on average get and retain better people if they paid better. However, that does not excuse the actions of those who abandoned their duty when they were badly needed.

It would probably be a good investment to have a means and process to get families of emergency workers to safety in the event of an emergency so that they could concentrate on their duties.


24 posted on 09/20/2005 10:04:54 AM PDT by untrained skeptic
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To: teenyelliott

He let down his family, his department and his city. He was an officer and his men looked to him for leadership and he bolted. Now that the storm has passed(please, God),I am rather certain that he feels very poorly about his decision. It will always weigh on his conscience.

I do, however, appreciate your sentiments. Many thanks for your thoughtful note.


25 posted on 09/20/2005 10:05:00 AM PDT by RexBeach ("The rest of the world is three drinks behind." -Humphrey Bogart)
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To: Dane
Ugh, just listening to his wife whine about how she needed him home so it's all her fault.

Disgusting lack of honor to one's duty.

26 posted on 09/20/2005 10:07:05 AM PDT by OldFriend (MAJ. TAMMY DUCKWORTH ~ A NATIONAL TREASURE)
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To: Sloth
They took the job. It was their duty to stay. They weren't risking their lives for Nagin's reputation, they were risking it for the people of New Orleans who they were sworn to protect.

The government of New Orleans definitely didn't make their jobs easy.

They didn't have the equipment they needed. They didn't have the leadership to be fully effective. However, there was still a lot they could do, but they chose to leave instead of fulfill their duty.
27 posted on 09/20/2005 10:09:29 AM PDT by untrained skeptic
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To: Pylot

If you take the Kings shilling, you do the Kings bidding.
This guy took a oath to protect and defend the people of NOLA.
He should have gotten his faimly out and returned to do his duty.
Plain and simple !!


28 posted on 09/20/2005 10:11:39 AM PDT by Robe (Rome did not create a great empire by talking, they did it by killing all those who opposed them)
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To: untrained skeptic
They took the job. It was their duty to stay.

Why, did their employment contracts state that they could not resign during an emergency?

29 posted on 09/20/2005 10:13:52 AM PDT by Sloth (We cannot defeat foreign enemies of the Constitution if we yield to the domestic ones.)
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To: teenyelliott

"I would rather my children and myself have an unemployed husband and father, rather than a heroic dead cop.
I know that is selfish, and that someone has to do the job. But my family comes first. I don't blame him."



If your ever on a airplane in trouble, (God forbid) and the pilot comes waltzing down the aisle, whistling with a parachute over his shoulder.... I hope you feel the same way Then!!!


30 posted on 09/20/2005 10:20:22 AM PDT by Robe (Rome did not create a great empire by talking, they did it by killing all those who opposed them)
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To: teenyelliott

"I know that is selfish, and that someone has to do the job. But my family comes first. I don't blame him."

I only blame him because he chose to become a police officer.

He accepted the responsibility that job entails, and then failed to fulfill his duty.

He shouldn't be a police officer.


31 posted on 09/20/2005 10:21:00 AM PDT by untrained skeptic
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To: FFIGHTER
Recruit Starting Salary is $ 25,508 with uniform allowance

Hmm. This is a little low, but certainly not the $16,000 I heard repeated during the height of the news coverage. I remember someone (Geraldo?) saying that new policemen made less than Wal-Mart workers.

32 posted on 09/20/2005 10:21:38 AM PDT by radiohead (Proud member of the 'arrogant supermagt')
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To: Sloth
Why, did their employment contracts state that they could not resign during an emergency?

The scumbag did not "resign" in accordance with some contractural procdure. He bugged out in the face of a crisis in which the lives and property of the citizens he'd taken an oath to protect were endangered. That's at the very least dereliction of duty, for which he should be fired "for cause" and barred from public employment and receipt of any form of government (federal, state, local) assistance. Whether it's criminal, equivalent to desertion in the face of the enemy under the UCMJ, is debatable and a question of the strange law of Louisiana. He should be publicly stripped of his badge and sidearm.

33 posted on 09/20/2005 10:24:49 AM PDT by CatoRenasci (Ceterum Censeo Arabiam Esse Delendam -- Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit)
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To: radiohead
There was a lot of rumor mongering going on during coverage, they never let the facts get in the way of a "good" story.
34 posted on 09/20/2005 10:24:55 AM PDT by FFIGHTER
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To: teenyelliott

It wasn't snide, so No. I will not rephrase.


35 posted on 09/20/2005 10:25:51 AM PDT by jw777
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To: Dane

Frankly, given the performance of the governor and mayor, who continued to actively interfere with efforts to mitigate the disaster long after the feds and Red Cross tried to step in to help, I think police officers who deserted should be pretty low on the list of people to criticize. I mean, what the heck are troops really expected to do, when their commanding officers retreat to safe ground and simply refuse to address the ongoing battle?


36 posted on 09/20/2005 10:25:59 AM PDT by GovernmentShrinker
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To: Robe

Apparently his family was out.... he was just a deserter.


37 posted on 09/20/2005 10:26:08 AM PDT by CatoRenasci (Ceterum Censeo Arabiam Esse Delendam -- Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit)
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To: CatoRenasci

Any emergency responder who "resigns" during an emergency, for whatever reason, should be criminally prosecuted.


38 posted on 09/20/2005 10:29:13 AM PDT by Conservababe
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To: GovernmentShrinker
Frankly, given the performance of the governor and mayor, who continued to actively interfere with efforts to mitigate the disaster long after the feds and Red Cross tried to step in to help, I think police officers who deserted should be pretty low on the list of people to criticize.

I agree, it's all about leadership. Still LT. Waller's, of what I would call, cowardice, shows that the LA leadership was more than lacking.

39 posted on 09/20/2005 10:31:29 AM PDT by Dane ( anyone who believes hillary would do something to stop illegal immigration is believing gibberish)
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To: highlymotivated
One point is, when the city pays cops a poverty wage, don't be surprised when thugs get recruited and stiff like this happens. You get what you pay for. NOPD was vastly underpaid and acted like it.

What, exactly, is (or was) the wage of the NOLA police officer?

40 posted on 09/20/2005 10:33:28 AM PDT by meyer (The DNC prefers advancing the party at the expense of human lives.)
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