Did the 200 police officers who Nagin claimed deserted exist, or were never there in the first place?
He may have been BEGINNING his coverup of the 700 fake NOLA police officers (on salary, but who didn't exist) with that announcement!
There should be travel/lodging reinbursments from officers who went to Atlanta and Vegas.
I wonder how many will be proven to have actually gone there.
And if the PD had phantom employees, you can bet that it wasn't the only department that did...
It's been impossible for me to reconcile the cop numbers, but I think there's no doubt:
From the very beginning, Mayor Nagin and Police Chief Compass were attempting to cover up NOPD corruption.
With their exaggerated stories of cop heroism, exaggerated stories of New Orleans violence, death, destruction, murder and mayhem. I think the Las Vegas/Atlanta R&Rs for cops was a part of it too.
Maybe some cops did desert, the following article gives a number. We don't know how many of that number were the phantom cops or actual deserters.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nat-gen/2005/sep/28/092801085.html