NOLA - from a policeman's side

My best friend just returned from duty in NOLA. I thought I would share with you what he told me about his first hand experience down there. Keep in mind he arrived in NOLA 24 hours after the levees broke.

First thing: NOLA Policeman looting - there are no jails or facilities to keep prisoners. While he was there a NOLA officer was caught looting a pawn shop he was arrested and turned into what was left of his precinct. A few days later my friend inquired about him and was told he was placed back on probationary duty and was killed during the prevention of a looting incident.

When the governor said there would be no tolerance of looting - that was exactly the situation - looters were shot on site and there were differences made in who was looting for survival vs who was looting for personal gain.

Superdome - When the hurricane came through it was damaged but still able to house people, but when the levees broke and people headed for the superdome it had nearly 30,000 refugees and they completely destroyed the superdome, it just wasn't meant to support that many people. When the initial buses arrived to pick up the refugees, the authorities tried to keep it orderly but you had hungry people wanting out of there surging for the buses and some of those people were gang members with weapons. They actually shot an officer in the head point blank and stole a bus with just a handful of gang members aboard - they didn't care to take the rest of the starving, hungry and injured. Another officer was shot trying to prevent the hijacking of another bus. It's unfortunate but in the face of diversity humanity digressed and revereted to the less than civilized.

Some of the media is responsible for stirring up riots down there. He actually witnessed this female reporter asking questions like "Because you're black you were left behind, how do you feel about that?" and would then point to crowd, a crowd she had been agitating. She was later killed by someone in that crowd.

My friend personally handed out MRE's to the refugees along with other fellow officers, he later saw a man being interviewed by the woman reporter that was killed, this man was stating how they were being starved and abused by the officers there. Behind him you could see all this litter and filth...that filth came from all the MRE's that were passed out, and my friend had personally handed the man that was being interviewed two MRE's to feed him and the woman that was with him.

Another reporter was on an airboat that was being used to rescue people. The pilot of the craft said they had enough people weight wise and would return for the others...The reporter insisted there was room for two more people - physically yes, but not weight wise to maintain bouyancy - the reporter cut the cameras on and insisted they take on two more people, the pilot tried to refuse but then the refugees themselves started trying to climb on board etc..and finally the pilot relented, when they tried to round a corner the boat went off balance and dumped the reporter and the refugees he insisted they take on into the putrid foul waters. Later that Reporter was medivaced out nearly comatose and one of the refugees had died - suspected contagion from the waters.

Finally I asked him about the dogs - He said he couldn't vouch for everyone but the dogs that were being put down (dogs and cats) were the ones showing signs of disease or were forming packs and becoming agressive. There were some that were shooting dogs as they came up to them no questions asked, that he said was unfortunate but it seemed to out weigh the fact that thousands of pets were being rescued and trucked to facilities where they could possibly be reunited with their owners (if they had been registered and the data could be recovered) or adopted out to new homes. The media again picks and chooses what it thinks will interest the viewer or reader the most.

He was upset that the media keeps reporting how slow aid was to reach NOLA and that FEMA didn't react properly. When in reality FEMA reacted faster and with greater man power than when Hugo hit, but that the truth of it was that many areas were just not accessible - the majority of NOLA was under 25 feet of water or more.

I just thought I would relate some of the experiences he had. He has photos (I think he said 215 or so) I plan to scan them and post them - according to him some of them infact most of them will horrify you, but at least you'll be able to see for yourself the devastation and not just the media feed.

Also, just as disclaimer...comment all you care to but don't personally flame me or my friend, these are just points of view and opinions I thought I would share. He personally volunteered nearly two weeks from his family and job as a State Trooper to help these people and is planning to go back again after a week of leave, and plans to stay with it until NOLA is back to some semblance of normality.

The most interesting thing about this post to me is that *all* of this information is basically censored by the government. Bravo for real live individuals coming forward with the facts!

My only other comment is that the part about shooting looters on sight is pretty disgusting. I mean one kind of expects those idiot gang type people to do the awful things they do, but police officers killing folks on sight for stealing TV sets or whatever is pretty bad and hardly necessary.

I guess even I failed to report properly (of course I'm doing this from work and get side tracked easily) - I said basically the same thing...that just arbitrarily shooting people is like wrong and his response was the majority of the looters for gain were armed themselves. ( I did state that "looters should be shot on site" in another thread but that was more of an emotional response than an actual desire to see people killed).

Also, on behalf of the stranded and abandoned - he said that not everyone was being sniped at... he said that there was a difference between people firing off guns to sort of let you know there were people alive and in some vicinity and actually being shot at. Yes there was the sound of gunfire and alot of it...but it wasn't all directed at the rescuers...

Though the report about the gang members firing on and trying to hijack an ambulance and first responder rescue truck is true. Two rescuers were killed and 4 gang members were killed.

**** Please keep in mind when thinking about the NOLA Police at one time (and may still be I don't know myself) they were the most corrupt police force in the US seconded by two other cities I won't mention here because it's not about them.

Thanks for posting. I've always found personal reports compelling in situations like this when there is so much information and agenda fighting for limited capacity to comprehend disaster of this scope.

I stumbled upon a personal account of the significance of the disaster to one family who is out of the zone here . Perhaps no profundity there, but it touched me. I'd also like to thank Siggy for teaching me, accidentally, that behind every report exists many real human stories almost always lost in the forest.

I know it's immoral and all that, but hearing about the sensationalist journalists being killed or falling deathly ill by their own devices made me smile.

Looking forward to the website with the pictures. You should write all his stories down too. Post it on Fark and then everyone will know about it in the blogosphere .

I enjoyed the personal gain looters being shot myself then the journalist thing secondary. Must be the bloodthirsty soldier in me.

Must be. I personally find sensationalist journalism to be much more reprehensible than the limited effects of looting. The looter's sphere of influence is microscopic compared to the millions (hundreds of millions?) of people that a journalist can negatively impact through demoralization processes (fear, paranoia, inadequacy, etc) and spin. Serves those mindf*ckers right.

People looting essentials to survive aside -

Well, you dance around a real issue - some people just don't get it, they just don't belong to a world where people don't act like a-holes.

I think there's a certain gratification we get from seeing them punished. Ah ... though it's sad because in their death they will never learn anything - essentially any chance that they might be shown what the real world is - and the responsibility that comes with being a human being.

I believe looters being shot on sight has long been the accepted practice by most western governments in response to situations where the authorities do not have incidents of civil disobedience under control.

Basically when the situation has deterioted to the point that criminals know there will not be reprecussions if they shoot police or innocents, A sort of frontier justice is applied.

The sorts of things going on in New Orleans were horrible. The 13 year old girl who had her throat slashed in the bathroom of the convention center and was left there. The man who shot his sister in the head for food, and so on.

======================

I dont know how much of the reporting of the incidents are being supressed by the government. It seems the media has a pretty free hand in reporting - Though im willing to admit my impression could be wrong.

It also seems the media wants to report the story its own way. There has been a definite attempt to sensationalize some of the things that have been happened.
They seem to want there to be a lot of incompetance and racist motivations. They really report a lot on all the Politics involved.

When I watch CNN or Fox news anyway it seems that way - But from other sources it reads more like what Nisa has posted - There was a good piece on 'All things Considered' about the horrible things that happened in the Convention center. There was another piece about refuges in Baton Rouge and a display of actual Racism , by one of their residents about where they would be welcome to move the BR permently - her reaction was to make a face and say, "No".

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I think on terms of race , the actual discrimination involved occured long before the disaster. But in terms of trying to help those in need there has been far more compassion than racism.

Yes there are definite examples of it - such as the photo captions where blacks are looters and whites are forages.

But the blanket statement "Bush Hates Black people" I dont think can be determined from the Fema response to the disaster.

I work for a major telecom - I have spoken to techs who have gone down there and are going down there. I can confirm from more sources that it's worse than the media is portraying.

As far as I can determine from a brief search, there have been no reports of any journalist covering the aftermath of Katrina dying from any cause.

One policeman was shot in the head by a looter, but is expected to survive. Two others committed suicide. I found no reports of gangs hijacking busses or emergency vehicles.

There are many cases of police and soldiers roughing up reporters and looting their equipment (oh, sorry, I mean confiscating).

A rumor is a rumor, and any "friend of a friend" story should be regarded with extreme suspicion unless there is independent verification. Example: there were many reports of residents firing on rescue helicopters... but there hasn't been a single pilot that reported being fired upon.

I left a couple of the stories he related out, because they were just too sad.

I'll go ahead and post the last he told me before we all parted the other night. We're supposed to get together next week and I'll ask more questions. One thing you guys can do if you want is post questions you would like me to ask him.

Death and Body Recovery - one of the sad things was a girl, she may have been about 9, He brought her in to the refugee medical center. She had been wandering around with no adult supervision. They administer some first aid and try feeding her and hydrating her, but she dies about 6 or 7 hours later of malnutrition and dehydration...The poor child was so undernourished that just 3 days after the levees broke she dies and there was no family with her... He said that was the only time he cried, when they were placing her in a body bag. And there were so many bodies that they began stacking the bodies in between those concrete barriers they use during highway construction to keep predators and such from getting to them easily.

The other story he related he didn't personally witness, but one of the other troopers from my home town that volunteered with him rescued a woman that was obviously pregnant at least 9 months. The stress of the rescue and everything else sends the woman into labor and the trooper has no choice but to help assist in this woman delivery. The baby was stillborn and it was obvious it had passed long before the birth process. William and many of the volunteers from my home town were appalled at the health conditions of some of the refugees before they ever became refugees.

Lastly you guys all know about the nursing home that had 125 tenants in it left behind to drown. Well William and his crew came across one that had about 45 or 47 left behind..he said it was quite obvious that the abled body just completely abandoned these poor folks...and he said you could tell where they tried to save themselves and each other.
None of the dead were employees.


One of the things he said hamstringed the rescue efforts in the first 24 hours after the flooding was that 1700 police men and other first responders didn't respond..they either had their own families to worry about, were killed, or abandoned their posts. These were people that could have and should have been there. And that is such a hard judgement call when you have to choose between saving your own family and your job a job where you are expected to save everyone.

Anyway if you have any questions you would like me to ask him just post them here.

Well I can see why your cautioning everyone. But I'm not sensationalizing and I certainly don't need to make up rumors of this nature for attention. And William, though none of you know him is not one to exaggerate. You're right you won't find everyone of these stories available for googling Arcadia and it's because not every story is reported. I guess his story would be more true if he related it personally? Are you saying the media needs to report something in order for it to be valid? But Yes folks, these are stories he related to me and thus it can be construed as heresy. Maybe you'll feel differently once I get the photos posted. Then you can see I'm not just relating made up stories or stories I made up for myself..

Noooo... but the media does tend to be scrupulous in reporting the death of one of their own, and the sensationalitic value of a street gang hijacking a vehicle and killing cops would make it front page news on certain less savory outlets.

I don't know, I wasn't there, but you're relating stories that your friend was told by other people. You trust your friend, but can you trust his sources? (I don't doubt anything that he witnessed himself).

Reputable news outlets require multiple sources before publishing anything as fact. It's true, reputable news outlets are on the decline, but they still exist... and none of them are picking up on these stories. That gives me pause.

I've seen enough reporters behaving badly to not dismiss those tales out of hand, but I'd feel more secure in the truth if we had names. I also know that most field journalists are dedicated professionals trying to do a dangerous job under tough circumstances... and those are the ones I would send if I were an editor. Leave the well-coiffed anchor puppets at the studio.

I'm not saying any of this is untrue... but I don't think we have enough info to judge.

No you mis understand he's not telling me stories from other people. These are his stories well except for the trooper that delivered the baby. He was there, he was deputized to work as a Trooper for the State of Louisiana. So this isn't he was told and he told me type story.

I agree with you as far as the reporters..and unfortunately I don't have names to relate to you but I will see what I can do in order to make you feel a bit more secure in reporters stories he witnessed.

As far as giving pause, that's fine I understand your caution. I just know that things happen everyday that never go reported or even commented on, and in a disaster like this I can see quite a few things going un reported no matter how heinous it is...just because there is probably something worse happening elsewhere.

Two comments.

The first bus to arrive at the Astrodoome WAS stolen... okay, not hijacked, but stolen.source: September 3, 2005 Saturday 0 South Pinellas Edition
SECTION: NATIONAL; Pg. 1A
HEADLINE: AMID RUIN, SOME RELIEF;
Found that reference via Lexis Nexis search -- -though I had seen the video of that bus arriving on the television. That same video was show on ABC, CBS and CNN almost simultaneously. Within minutes of its arrival at the Astrodome, the "jig was up" and the driver was arrested.

As for pilots reporting being fired on... many helo pilots HAVE reported hearing shots fired. They are not reporting that they have been fired upon unless 1) they see the person pointing the weapon at them, or 2) they hear a bullet strike their aircraft. Those are the orders that were given my father-in-law who flies with the USCG SAR teams currently conducting operations in the New Orleans area.

Thanks for clearing that one up. I guess to him it was HiJacked /shrug. I'll see if I can't get a clearer picture on that when we have supper Monday Night. In reality I'm interested in seeing the photos he took - too me that will tell more than any words can express.



I believe that's basically what he was saying in this passage here.

I'm sure there is enough death, rape, and murder there that the some of the murdered haven't been accounted for. Perhaps the news people just consider that reporter missing? Or perhaps she was just so severely injured that the Trooper assumed she would die but was later revived?

Anyway, nothing is really valid until it's on PBS.

Peanut Butter Sandwiches - yum!

Yes that is possible that she was severely injured or critically injured but saved, I think being a trooper for him once the crowd was subdued his interest in her was pretty much over it was on to the next crisis.

I disagree. Culling is pretty satisfying.

My brother has an apartment in the French Quarter, but is often as sea. I heard from him last week via e-mail. Here is the story he tells, unedited.. sorry if parts are boring.

9-04-05

SUBJECT: Hurricanes sure do suck

I had to stick it out in the area... contractual and legal obligations to stay with the ship. Our turbines were removed for rebuilding. One had been delivered and set in place, but reinstallation was not complete. The other one is still in Houston. So the ship could not leave. Luckily the storm hit to the east of us and not to the west, so the general direction of the wind as it backed around was never blowing us off the dock. If it had, we would have broken away from the dock. As it was, we never got anything over 110kt gusts and through the worst of it, sustained winds were only about 70 at our location. We lost a few
exterior lights and a lot of canvas covers for this or that were ripped up, but nothing major at all.

Most of us decided our vehicles were safer up on the dock than down in the parking lot, so we moved them up and lined them up bomper to bumper in the lee of the ship. None were damaged. As it was, the flooding that we anticipated down in the parking lot never occurred. But flying debris did knock out a couple of windshields down there. Last night there were street lights all over the west bank, and West Jefferson Hospital has power now, though still no water pressure. The hospital staff set up a couple of dialysis stations
on the ship for their kidney patients, because they need water pressure to operate the dialysis machines.

We also have been pumping diesel to trucks delivering to the national guard, the fire departments, hospitals, and walmart, who geve us looting priveleges since we are feeding a lot of the emergency workers. For the first couple of days, we were the only lit-up place with running water and air conditioning on the west bank.

The initial effects of the storm probably spared my house in the French Quarter. The next day, the 17th street canal levee collapsed along about a 100 yard stretch, letting water that the storm piled up into Lake Pontchartrain flood areas of the city that had been spared from the floods up to that point. I don't know if the water got up into the house, or not. The looters are really bad. There are gangs armed with semi and full auto weapons, dozens of lawless thugs in each, just helping themselves and shooting anyone in their way. It is worse than a war zone. Life is cheaper there right now, in the city, than probably
anywhere else in the world. There were helicopter gunships attacking the mobs yesterday. They have hit pretty much every business in the city except a few places that are defended by troops or cops, like walmart, which has been a source of all sorts of supplies for emergency workers.

After the businesses were properly looted and many on fire, they started hitting homes, and the reports I get are that the majority of homes in the quarter have been hit, so I imagine I have lost everything in the house. I can replace all that in a few months, but I hate to think about my guns being in the hands of those animals. The only bright side of
that is that two of my pistols are .45cal (the other is a .44 cap and ball revolver, useless to the criminals) and the thumb safety of the weapons that the outlaws are used to work differently from that of a .45. Also most guns on the street are double action, and the weapon is not cocked by racking the slide. So I am hoping that at least two ignorant ghetto dwellers will chamber a round, unknowingly cocking the piece, leave the thumb safety off, and hopefully shoot themselves in the leg.

Here on the west bank, Harry Lee, the sherriff since probably the Roosevelt administration (Teddy, that is) declared martial law in Jefferson Parish almost immediately. There was less flooding, more complete evacuation, and so fewer people to rescue. Law enforcement assets were therefore available for anti-looting patrols, and they are everywhere. Still, several businesses were hit, and Oakwood Mall was burning yesterday. But it is a lot safer here than in the city. As it is, I am wearing flak jacket and helmet when I have to go anywhere near the gate at night., and shotguns and M-14s are readily accessible. We are definitely at a high alert level but if anything, I think that is a
good thing. We are an obviously hard target, and nobody will bother us. Also during the day the area is crawling with cops and troops escorting the fuel trucks.

Things seemed to be improving a bit yesterday, and I think maybe today they will turn the corner in the city and start getting a better handle on the mobs. There are fewer people left to rescue and so more assets are available for restoring order.

It is amazing how many residents, especially the black majority, can't swim, considering the city is surrounded by water and subject to be under it, as well. I thought I was going to be able to visit the house and hopefully retrieve my guns, However, my armed escort decided it was too dangerous and they refused to go into that part of the city. Maybe in a couple of days I will be able to check it out and see if it is as bad as I think or not.

I don't know where Shauna is. We broke up a few weeks ago and I have tried to contact her, as well as my hopefully future/current GF, and nobody answers. I have not been able to contact anybody I know in the city. Cel phone service is very spotty, and most of the landlines, including many buried lines, are down. I am hoping everyone I know got
out of the city okay.

NO businesses are open. Most are unable to open, due to being pillaged and totally stripped of all merchandise or equipment. It would also be extremely dangerous to open up right now, with the mobs still running wild. The infrastructure is totally trashed. Communications, transportation, utilities, all are inoperative and it is a whole different world out there now. The street lightrs on the west bank are a good sign, but the city is still dark. A couple of pumps are now working, though, and they are slowly getting the city pumped out. The levee breaches have been temporarily repaired. Entergy estimates of time to restore power to the city have run from 4 weeks to 2 months.

I am hoping the quarter will get some priority, because once power is restored, businesses in the Quarter can clean up and try to re-open and get some badly needed revenue back into the city.

Our sister ship, returned yesterday. That will take a little of the load off of us. The National Guard got us some reverse osmosis watermakers and we will be able to provide water to the city of Marerro, where we are tied up. Meanwhile the Altair still has fires lit and can make water. The reality still hasn't sunk in to those guys. Several asked me last night where they could buy phone cards and beer. They just didn't understand me... it was like I was speaking in a foreign language when I tried to explain that there were NO stores open ANYWHERE, and that they could not buy ANYTHING, and that I could not allow them to leave the compound, except in groups going no further than the parking
lot. Everyone returning is getting a very rude awakening.

We were supposed to make a middle east run late in this month, and we don't know if we will be postponing that to help with the relief efforts or if we will jsut go as scheduled. Once the other turbine is here, we can be ready to go in a couple of weeks. To tell you the truth, I would rather be over there than here, right now. This isituation here is
totally unreal,

Well I will see if I can get a connection to send this. It took me two hours yesterday to check my email. Nothing else much that I can say that you aren't seeing on the news.

--------

Well I didn't get that sent. UPDATE... the situation is stabilizing somewhat. A lot of looters have been killed and that has taken a lot of the steam out of the mob. A couple of guys from the Algiers navy base who have been running patrols through the city said they would check on my house for me. (Well, we DID give them 2100 gallons of diesel fuel!) I
might be able to go back to the house as early as Monday. Maybe even sooner. Once the streets are secure, or at least as secure as they were before the hurricane, I look for power to be restored to the Quarter within a week.

9-6-05

SUBJECT: House is OK

I managed to get into the city in convoy with a truck full of diesel for the aquarium. I was not able to stay at the house for long, but I got my guns out and external hard drives and a few other things I don't want to lose. There was no damage. Water did not get high enough to get in the house at all and the looters did not mess with it. Probably because it
is suffering so badly from paint deprivation that they figured it was just us po folks living there. Got my fishing poles, too. I suspect the catfish are on a strong bite in the river right now.

There are cops and troops all over the quarter and in fact the whole downtown area. Order has definitely been restored to that part of the city, anyway. Now all we need is power and running water and we can get the quarter cleaned up in a matter of days and get the businesses open again.

Other than some very foul smelling food in the fridge, no harm done to me, at all. Someone even tied a bouquet of balloons to the mailbox. I wish I could have stayed longer but I was not driving and could only go along with the consensus so I was in and out in 10 minutes. The only water is all within 4 blocks of Canal and Rampart. I saw a few people I know but I was not able to stop and see if they needed anything or not. Everyone still looks sort of numb and spaced out. Maybe the Red Cross brought in some good drugs or something... but it must have been very nerve-wracking for those who rode it out in the quarter for those first couple of days.

Media from all over the place is there... spoke to a reporter for a German magazine and saw some asian news crews filming the ruins of stores along Canal Street.

Well I have just enough time for a nap before my watch so this is it for
now.