Let's see if I get this.

Let's see if I understand this.

Lots of NOPD cops high-tailed it out of town rather than do their job in the aftermath of the hurricane, and they were permitted to come back.

Others were active looters, as can be proven by TV videotape, and they were not prosecuted or fired.

BUT, some cops who stood up and resisted a gang of rioters and had to shoot a couple of them are being prosecuted for murder and/or attempted murder!

What a town!

:roll:

I was born and raised in New Orleans. After a 3 year stint in the Army I joined the NOPD. It was the best time of my life, learned from the "old timers" but never took a dime from anyone. Ethics and integrity was drilled into me by the senior officers and my supervisor. I saw the changes coming during the mid 80's as the department actively sought a department that mirrored the almost 48 per cent poverty population. I remember being told by the personnel in hiring two things, One - We now have two hiring standards, and if some personnel past the polygraph, hire them, and Two, even though you are one of the few who have a college degree, dont expect to be promoted until the other group has a equal amount of supervisors promoted. I even saw a other group sergeant skip over a rank and made a captain. That idiot could only spell it as CAPT. Well thank god my boss was a good and honest person. The best advice he ever gave me and still the best advise I have ever gotten in my life is the day he told me to go to another agency, away from the New Orleans that I was raised in, and still love very much. After spending a vacation in another state and making inquiries about officer positions I was offered a job in a growing Florida city. I could not begin to tell you how grateful I am to make that move.
Two days after Katrina I left my Florida home with a pickup truck load of MRE's and ammo. I met up with my former boss, who is still working there after all these years, and was surpised to find out that the major problem was'nt the lack of dedicated personnel, it was the lack of the city and Chief to properly prepare the officers for the hurricane. Officers were sent home to ride out the storm, no supplies were distributed around the city for the officers after the storm. No leadership or plan to deal with the aftermath. and years of politically correct hiring practices left some personnel with less than honorable intentions. Many of the officers did not flee the city, but were in fact "trapped" at their homes with their families. Now put in a delemia of protect your family or get to work, if you can find a way to get there. Many officers faced with this problem chose to care for their family verses the needs of the department . After all the department did not prepare or care for the officers. Very few at the top were leaders, but I can tell you from being there many leaders came from the rank and file. I distributed over 3,000 rounds of ammo to guys that only had the ammo on their gun belts, or out completely. During the nights I was with guys who were involved in as many as 6 firefights that nights. Yes I said firefights, it is only way to describe 10 to 15 minute gun battles with hundreds of rounds being exchanged. I had to leave after 5 days. But, after working there for 5 years those 5 days were the most intense in my 25 year career, combined. Forget the slugs on the city payroll because of political or ethic reasons, I saw first hand the good officers ,trying, under the most intense circumstances I have ever witnessed, to be just that, good cops in a good city. With a city of over 500,000 and 48 percent still at poverty levels New Orleans' less then 1,500 cops did and outstanding job. When I say cops I mean the rank and file. Their leaders were absolutly terrible. I was actually sad to leave, and felt like I was deserting them. After all these years, this was the only time I actually felt like crying. Seeing the City that I remember as a boy, devistated and then on top of that, the poor leadership from City Hall to the Police Administration, still makes me sick to this day. The cops that could work, did just that, well above the normal call to duty. The media picked up the story and inflated it, that officers were not coming to work or leaving. It really is not true. Some, and you will always have some abandoned there brothers and sisters, but the majority, the real cops working for crap pay and benifits in politically corrupt city, influenced by a low income voting base, stood up and were never really recognized for it. The cops who were "shopping" while on duty, no matter what the reason is unacceptable. Set the example to the people. This also starts at the top levels of city government and police administration. The chief wears his badge upside down to remember a chief killed in the line of duty years ago. Every one of those "good and honest" officers there to this day should come to work with their badge upside down to honor those who served above and beyond the call of duty during Katrina, and still to this day.

Cresent City Kid

Geez, and I thought, according to Ray Nagin, that Geo. Bush sent that hurricane to wipe out the black folk!