NEWS: New Orleans Police Superintendent Resigns

Eddie Compass, the Police Superintendent of New Orleans, announced plans to resign today. The New Orleans police department has come under heavy criticism for its actions during Hurricane Katrina, with nearly 250 police officers abandoning their jobs during the storm and even reports of a few officers looting. He said he will remain at his post until a replacement is transitioned into the position.



Good. There's obviously something wrong with a police department that loses 15% of its staff when they're most needed. Nothing like this happened in NYC during 9/11.

I think the mayor needs to seriously consider resigning as well.

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[edit on 9/27/2005 by djohnsto77]

Originally posted by djohnsto77
Nothing like this happened in NYC during 9/11.

Why would it have? 9/11 and the New Orleans disaster is like apples and oranges.

Originally posted by djohnsto77
I think the mayor needs to seriously consider resigning as well.

I think the residents of New Orleans will make that decision for him in the very near future. My bet is it won't be Nagin's head they'll be calling for.

Peace

It looks like the police department needs a complete overhaul. There have been protests in the past about corruption of the force.

Maybe with the rebuilding of the city it might be good to start fresh with the N.O.P.D.

Originally posted by djohnsto77

Good. There's obviously something wrong with a police department that loses 15% of its staff when they're most needed. Nothing like this happened in NYC during 9/11.

I think the mayor needs to seriously consider resigning as well.

Amen to that. You also did not see NYC police and fire officials take vacations to Las vegas the minute help arrived on the scene.

NO wonderful mayor got all his cops and fire department those perks within hours of the arrival of the national guard. New York's finest stayed on the job for weeks if not months before they got relief like that, the same applied to Law and fire officials in Mississippi and Alabama, but those poor poor cops/fire fighters in NO went to Vegas, Atlanta and LA. What a bunch of wimps.

Okay, I'm checking these people off now.

Compass - check

Now all we need is:

Nagin
Blanco
Chertoff
Bush

and I think we'll be good to go.

Meanwhile Mike Brown made an ass out of himself today. If he'd just stopped at pointing out the ineptitude of Blanco and Nagin and the admission he realized somethings weren't quite right in his agency's response he could have walked away with dignity. But he threw in the big exploding cigar statement...

you guys wanted me to be some kind of super-hero.

No...we just didn't want you to be some kind of super-moron. Not being that would have helped a great deal.

Originally posted by Valhall
Meanwhile Mike Brown made an ass out of himself today.

We listened to him on the radio and talk about making a scene and was quite childish in his behavior.

This sums it up pretty well for me:

"I'm happy you left," said Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn. "Because that kind of, you know, look in the lights like a deer tells me that you weren't capable to do the job."
Game Set and match

Originally posted by FredT

This sums it up pretty well for me:

"I'm happy you left," said Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn. "Because that kind of, you know, look in the lights like a deer tells me that you weren't capable to do the job."
Game Set and match

LMAO! I'm sorry I missed that. For our Connecticut members...remember this guy for his candidness and honesty. It's time to do a bit of telling it like it is.

Originally posted by Valhall
Meanwhile Mike Brown made an ass out of himself today.

Not really, I think some of the committe members did though.

New Orleans is about as corrupt a city as has ever graced the planet, despite its architectural charm and easy-going atmosphere. This condition has persisted for generations and, in fact, might not have been as bad just before Katrina as it has been in the past. I'm not sure if Eddie Compass is himself corrupt, but corruption is so deeply entrenched that survival requires a huge blind eye or some complicity. Even the honest can rationalize unethical behavior under various circumstances.

What happened to the NOPD cannot be fairly compared to New York, which has had its problems with corruption, as well. After 9/11, the infrastructure of New York was not completely destroyed and most of the NYPD or the NYFD did not find themselves homeless.

There are going to be a lot of sacrificial lambs in the aftermath of Katrina. Eddie Compass, even if he is truly a saint, is paying the price of generations of mismanagement, apathy and "politics, as usual." It's a shame, because I think he probably was a loyal career cop who did the absolute best he could under the absolute worst of circumstances.

As I have said before, Marc Morial and his legislation that made it mandatory for all members of NOPD live in Orleans Parish contributed to some degree to the dire circumstances under which NOPD had to cope, but you won't hear anything about that in the news, I'm sure.

Of course, that impact might not be so extreme when one considers that the surrounding parishes were also hard hit, with St. Bernard Parish being completely wiped out. You won't hear much about that either, but that's another story.

www.st-bernard.la.us...

St. Bernard Parish "Oil-Caked."

Damage in St. Bernard

St. Bernard Parish Firefighters Homeless


[edit on 2005/9/27 by GradyPhilpott]

I'm not so sure I would class Compass as a good cop. He is the one who gave the order for the police to confiscate legally owned guns from the citizens of NOLA. Could it possibly be that the police there are so corrupt he didn't want his men being shot by honest people? Nah, I'll give him a pass on that one, but he sure as hell was afraid of those guns for some reason. As for NOLA being one of the most corrupt cities on the face of the Earth, I think I would hand that title to Bagdad, Iraq (at least for the time being).

[edit on 28-9-2005 by Astronomer68]

Originally posted by Valhall
Meanwhile Mike Brown made an ass out of himself today. If he'd just stopped at pointing out the ineptitude of Blanco and Nagin and the admission he realized somethings weren't quite right in his agency's response he could have walked away with dignity. But he threw in the big exploding cigar statement...

Yeah, I saw that crumb on the news...a truelly sickening and gutless response. Think he's spent too much time sniffing arabian horse dung.

As for Big Sleazy police super resigning, don't let the door hit ya on the way out.

Mike Brown is a scapegoat in this whole affair and he had the guts to face his accusers and tell the truth. There were mistakes made at all levels of government, but ultimately, it is Louisiana who is most responsible for the chaos, not the feds. The ensuing investigations are going to reveal all of this, I hope.

When one Democrat asked Brown about the problems in Louisiana, he repsonded that one of the key emergency response positions was vacant. When he was asked what happened to the individual who held that position, his respose was, "He was indicted."

Now Louisiana legislators have put together a list of projects they want the federalis (read: us) to pay for to the tune of 225 billion dollars and it is too soon to have any rational assessments of the damage--politics, as usual. in Louisiana.

Although I am no fan of the New Orleans PD or politics in general, there is quite a bit of difference between the 9/11 disaster and Katrina. For one, all of N.O. was without communication , utilities, transporation, etc.
Sure, the officers who ran or looted were cowards and thieves, but the apples to oranges expression is more appropriate here.