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June 20, 2006

The NOLA Police

Are they useless or what?

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Acting at the mayor's request, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said Monday she would send National Guard troops and state police to patrol the streets of New Orleans after a bloody weekend in which six people were killed.

Now I am glad that Mayor Noggin did this, as it will give them a chance to get reorganized and get some seemingly sadly needed efficiency...esprit...heck, I don't know, but that police force sure seems to need something. Is there any reason why the top brass in the department should not be canned? Imean, first there was their disgraceful action in the wake of Katrina, and now look at this:

The police force has been operating with depleted ranks. It has about 1,375 officers, compared with about 1,750 before Katrina. The city's pre-Katrina population of 465,000 has rebounded to about half its size.

Depeleted ranks my left, er, foot. Before Katrina there were roughly 266 residents per officer. Now there are roughly 169 residents per officer. And things are worse?

Now I realize that the efficacy of a police force also depends heavily on the civic spirit of the populace; if the general population does not respect the political leadership and the police then they will not tend to respect the laws and the city will be very difficult to keep safe and orderly. This seems to me to be a perfect chance for Noggin to show that he is indeed a 'reform' mayor who can restore order and respect for the law.

However, it seems that the NOLA police chief is more concerned about the image to tourists than he is in building trust with the residents:

Riley assured residents that the Guard was "not coming in and taking over the city."

"You will have to look for them to find them," Riley said. "They will not be uptown, downtown or in the French Quarter. Our people will be there. This will allow us to have more of our people there."

In other words, if you live here we will treat you like a criminal and have the Guard posted by you, but please come and spend money here and chat with the fat friendly cop on Bourbon Street.

Doesn't sound like a formula for success to me, but more like a way to shift some blame to the Guard when things don't work out.

Update: Michelle Malkin hits this from another angle.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at June 20, 2006 07:38 AM

Comments

Posted by: tree hugging sister at June 20, 2006 12:45 PM