N.O. Police Chief resigned

[IN-dem]

Has anybody seen this? Sorry if it has already been posted.

By JULIA SILVERMAN Associated Press Writer

The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS Sep 27, 2005 — Police Superintendent Eddie Compass resigned Tuesday after four turbulent weeks in which the police force was wracked by desertions and disorganization in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath.

"I served this department for 26 years and have taken it through some of the toughest times of its history. Every man in a leadership position must know when it's time to hand over the reins," Compass said at a news conference. "I'll be going on in another direction that God has for me."

As the city slipped into anarchy during the first few days after Katrina, the 1,700-member police department itself suffered a crisis. Many officers deserted their posts, and some were accused of joining in the looting that broke out. Two officers Compass described as friends committed suicide.

complete story here http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1164452&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

[MADem]

1. PTSD, IMHO

That guy worked for days without sleep, saw some terrible stuff.

[NJ Democrats]

2. Wow!

I didn't hear about it. That's amazing. The police force completely broke down though.

[rodeodance]

3. There has been a lot of coruption on the force over the years. And now

they will be going after those whose left (deserted) the force as katrinia blew in. Some of the coruption will be exposed.

And yes, the police have done miricles since the hurricane--and perhaps redeemed themselves in many peoples eyes.

[Princess Turandot]

8. That's nothing new in terms of being known. They brought in a new chief..

from the outside a few years ago I think who supposedly was doing a great job and cleaned house of as many corrupt cops as possible. But then he quit. This guy replaced him.

The city had a bad gang problem and a very high murder rate to begin with. They only had 1500 officers on their police force. I did a quick estimate and on cops/population, NYC has 57% more cops/population and very low crime rates; I don't think we have anywhere near the same level of gang activity here as other US cities do. NYC sent them 300 officers a few weeks ago, which increased their official number by 20%.

A few of their cops committed suicide soon after the flooding. The chief had been speaking to one of them not long before that occurred,
and when interviewed about it, clearly felt that he should have seen a sign that the man was that troubled. That probably had a lot to do with it.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

5. yeah that tends to happen when a city's 10 feet underwater.

I mean fuck, they're not all boat cops ya know.

[pitohui]

4. hoo yah it's the talk of the town

the week of the hurricane compass is reporting murders, rapes, looting, desertion of 200-plus men

yesterday on the front page of the new orleans times-picayune (the local rightwing fish wrapper which is unfortunately our only daily paper) he is saying he is misinformed & there were no rapes, few murders

but no one is denying the 200-plus men didn't show up for duty, no one is denying two of the officers actually committed suicide during the disaster, it's just somehow the number of murders & rapes has suddenly dropped down to nearly nothing, i guess the 200-plus police officers ran off because they were soooooo bored w. their jobs

he either lied yesterday or he lied during the disaster, i find it hard to believe he was busy making up these stories in the middle of the disaster, esp. considering prior to the hurricane new orleans already had the highest murder rate per capita in the usa -- with a murder rate several times that of old competitor detroit, michigan!

something is wrong

i smell cover-up

the developers & the money interests have decided that it does not do to acknowledge the crime rate in new orleans or the reality of the crimes committed during the disaster

i can almost see their point, i want rebuilding $$$ too

but not at the cost of rape & murder victims being shoved under the rug

something is wrong, compass is in the thick of it, & i will be v. interested to see if his next job takes him out of the usa

[spindrifter]

6. Let's Hope He Really Retires

Not being a New Orleanian, I have no idea what may or may not be the truth about the inner workings of the P.D. pre Katrina. I am pretty sure, however, that the information Compass had during the period when the city fell into chaos was not complete, since the stories were pretty clear that even Nagin was not able to get communication lines immediately. I doubt he was "lying" about the rapes and murders in either version.
Let's all remember that the first orders, and ones that stood for several days, the police were given were to save lives. Yet, they were ill equipped to do so. Then there was a shift to doing policing as it became clear that anarchy was taking over . Certainly, a lot of the cops went AWOL to look after their families. Some went AWOL allegedly to snap up jobs w/ BlackH2O. And some decided they just couldn't deal with the situation, turned tail and left.

I feel like Compass had a horrible job during and after Katrina. But I also got the impression he was trying sincerely to save the people of his city.

[lovuian]

7. I think he knows he won't be getting any money from the mafia

for awhile!!! And who would risk their life for that man seriously!!!

No Wonder the police department is in shambles!!!

[bonito]

9. I wonder

what change has our homeland security brought, in the number of police in our cities?