The National Guard has come under criticism for not moving more quickly into New Orleans to help stem the upheaval. But Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, the head of the National Guard Bureau, told reporters on Saturday that the Guard had not moved in sooner because it had not anticipated the collapse of civilian law enforcement.
"The real issue, particularly in New Orleans, is that no one anticipated the disintegration or the erosion of the civilian police force in New Orleans," General Blum said.
Some patrol officers said morale had been low on the force even before the hurricane. One patrolman said the complaints included understaffing and a lack of equipment.
"We have to use our own shotguns," said the patrolman, who did not want to be identified by name. "This isn't theirs; this is my personal gun."
Another patrol officer said that many of the officers who had quit were younger, inexperienced officers who were overwhelmed by the task.
But the stress is clearly getting to most of the officers on the force, especially those who patrol the streets and have found little or no support services, no place to billet and limited radio communications.
At dusk on Friday, officers at one precinct in the French Quarter cordoned off the block where their precinct sat and, armed with shotguns, stopped and inspected every car that passed.
"We're not writing tickets anymore," said one officer who pointed a shotgun into a car carrying two newspaper reporters. The journalists were allowed to proceed, but were warned not to pass the checkpoint again.
Both the Police and Fire Departments are being forced to triage the calls they get for help.
The firefighters are simply not responding to some fires. In some cases, they cannot get through the flooding. But in others, they decide not to send trucks because they are needed for more serious fires.
"We can't fight every fire the way we did in the past and try to put it out," Superintendent Parent told a group of firefighters on Saturday morning at a promotion ceremony in the Algiers section of New Orleans, a dry area. "We've got to use our resources the best we can."
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When the police department and law enforcement infrastructure of a city of this size and this location just collapses under the pressure of NO leadership, NO direction, NO resources ... who're you gonna blame?? The President?? the National Guard?? FEMA?? Where was the mayor and HIS PLAN .. his responsibility and oversight of the police force, not to mention logical evacuation direction?
If people have to point fingers, point them at the true source of the problems. When you see the extent of corruption, malfeasance and negligence, it's clear that New Orleans was lucky to have survived this long unscathed .. this city was destined to implode.