NEWS: 200 New Orleans Police Hand In Their Badges

New Orleans Police have started handing in their badges and leaving. Some commit suicide, others never show up.



I am not sure who is to blame here. It is either the thugs who forced them through non stop gun battles, or the heroes who never showed up with numbers to help. I personally blame the criminals in New Orleans.

[edit on 4-9-2005 by YaYo]

From the same article you posted:

Police and fire officials have been begging federal authorities for assistance and criticizing a lack of federal response for several days.

"We need help," said Charles Parent, the superintendent of the Fire Department. Mr. Parent again appealed in an interview on Saturday for replacement fire trucks and radio equipment from federal authorities. And Mr. Compass again appealed for more federal help.

"When I have officers committing suicide," Mr. Compass said, "I think we've reached a point when I don't know what more it's going to take to get the attention of those in control of the response."

I think the lack of morale, the physical tiredness and the days of watching people die, get sick, lose hope and chaos mounting with no relief, is enough to make anyone just want to go home and not think about it anymore.

I had read about the cops leaving before the gunfights and looting, so I don't know if you can blame the crimminals. I'd just blame Katrina, and the officers.

The catastrophe was unprecedented. How could the local police possibly be prepared for such a thing? Personally, I blame the federal government. I simply do not believe that the feds couldn't have airlifted specially trained units in immediately after the storm to aid and resupply the police. Similarly, they could have run chopper overflights with public address systems to provide basic information and direction to the survivors and strategically dropped MRE's and water until a more complete relief effort could be undertaken. To have left these people for 5 days without the basic survival necessities is unconscionable and inexcusable. I can't even begin to imagine what was going through the minds of local police knowing they had the responsibility to manage the situation and being completely illequipped to do so. This is a national disgrace.

Just goes to show you that policemen are human too. I dont blame them one bit.
Good for them. Those are the people they have pledge to protect and their hands are tied.
I'm sure things are lots worse locally in NO.

www.wdsu.com...
According to the local NO news, about a third of the police force bailed in the hr of need.

That is unacceptable. From what I understand someone told me the police in SF told them if some terroist attack happened down there, most of them would leave. Just like in NO.

Why should they give their life for people, when they will turn around and talk badly about them etc. Most americans are anti-american, i dont blame them at all for just quiting, im not going to die for people who in six months might be spitting on my grave.

When police officers take their oath, they take an oath to protect and serve, much like the men and women of our military. Perhaps they left because there was no authority above them, perhaps they left because they were scared...who knows.

However, if you go AWOL in the military, there are repricussions that you will face (jail time, dishonorable discharges)...Maybe the same should be done to those that "run away" when their duty is to protect and serve on the civilian level.

If I were a police officer in New Orleans, or any place that a natural disaster occured, I wouldn't run, I would stay and do the job that I took an oath to do until I was told to do otherwise.

I do applaud those officers who stood tall and stayed in New Orleans to help in the time of need. They shoud receive the highest honor bestowed upon them that those in the military get.

There may be other issues to this. Some can only take so much dispair before they can't take it any more, how many dead have they had to deal with? Some may have lost loved ones or friends. Some have displaced families that they wanted to get to. The Police are people too, I wouldn't be quick to judge them.

And it's not like the military at all, they can resign any time they wish.

I am sure that they were not allowed to perform their duties, and i do not blame them for this.

Its not that they cant take it- They were probably told either they werent needed or the troops there told them its our way or the highway.

Originally posted by dgtempe
Its not that they cant take it-

You know this how DG? My father was a police officer after he got out of the Navy and if you had seen a 300 lb man weeping in the dining room because of a child in a fatal car accident, you would see where I'm coming from.

The New Orleans Police are citizens of New Orleans just like any other. They lost their homes to the floods just like everyone else in the city. Many of their families have probably perished as well. And it isnt likely that they just ran after the storm.
The levy breaking and flooding the city occured right AFTER the worst of the storm had passed. I am betting most certainly that most of the officers that dissapeared after the storm were killed in the flood that occured afterwards while trying to help others. They were killed in the line of duty.

In comparison. After the planes struck the towers New York lost hundreds of Police and firefighters due to the towers collapsing because they were in the line of duty trying to rescue citizens. I believe the same occured after the storm.

Thousands of National gaurd troops have arrived now. It is time for the remaining officers to try and salvage their own lives and let the majority unaffected troops to rstore order. There is nothing else for the officers to do besides fix their destroyed lives.

Truth is, no one really knows exactly what happened, or who to blame - if anyone, unless they had first hand knowledge and were there experiencing the same circumstances themselves.

I personally suspect that it was a combination of many, many different things, and probably not all the same for each officer that failed to show up.

Actually, something that almost everyone is forgetting is that a lot of cops are also reservists, part time paramedics and part time firefighters. So, what are they going to choose to do? They can get called up at any time and have to go with the army, or help out in other places. It's a matter of where their obligations lie.

Anyways, what's an officer going to do in a place like the superdome, get himself shot? Some did, I know. An auxilliary policeman and pastor was shot at saving people in a canoe.

The news coming out of NO is making me sick enough. I don't think a few hundred police officers getting murdered would have helped, anyways.

DE

Bush is to blame for everything, he did nothing and continues to do hardly anything. He needs to be arrested and charged with murder, his whole administration as well including homeland security. Bush was playing golf the other day, Rice was playing tennis and buying expensives shoes, WTF. It just shows you how little they care about anything other than themselves and money.

New Orleans had a big drug problem so the people who are violent and have guns are the drug addicts looking for a fix and they are out of their minds. Mississippi needs help, there are trucks with supplies but nobody is releasing them. There has been a ship off the coast of NO for a week with water, food and nobody has given the order for them to help. If people really cared they wouldn't wait for orders, they would just do what needs to be done.

Or were the police ordered to do something they didn't agree with? Is there more information regarding this?

Troy

Here's Three... FAT, LAZY, and CORRUPT. That's the bottom line talking about N.O. Police. My thoughts, prays, and RESPECT to those HERO's that didn't turn tail and run. Those that did should be hunted down and forced to take responsability for those actions, most are probably addicts (drug/alcohol) or crooked. If this is in fact true then they are no more then leeches on society, let them face the same punishment as military deserters. Take a good long look at NYPD. They didn't run.

Edt for spelling

[edit on 4-9-2005 by Ikema]

Gee, maybe they left because they are sick and tired of serving the idiot mayor of NO? After all, that guy had no plan to use them and has done nothing but blame everyone else since this thing has begun.

If you no longer respect a person, it is hard to work for him.

BTW, Police Officers do not take an oath like the military.

Originally posted by curme
I had read about the cops leaving before the gunfights and looting, so I don't know if you can blame the crimminals. I'd just blame Katrina, and the officers.

There were reports on the second day of people being shot dead, rapes, etc. I heard a couple of comments about it by reporters on the second day on the news.

[edit on 4-9-2005 by Muaddib]

Originally posted by cybertroy
Or were the police ordered to do something they didn't agree with? Is there more information regarding this?

Troy

Thats very likely, Troy. Sure, this is the toughest job, i cant even imagine it, but something is amiss.