Text 15708, 139 rader
Skriven 2005-09-27 22:08:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: Police Chief
====================
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050927/D8CSRRJ82.html

Leader of New Orleans Police Resigns
 
Sep 27, 5:46 PM (ET)

By JULIA SILVERMAN
  

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - 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.

Neither Compass nor Mayor Ray Nagin would say whether Compass was 
pressured to leave.

"It's a sad day in the city of New Orleans when a hero makes a decision 
like this," said Nagin, who appointed Compass in mid-2002. "He leaves 
the department in pretty good shape and with a significant amount of 
leadership."

New Orleans evacuees at a shelter in Baton Rouge disagreed over the 
chief's legacy and whether he should have resigned.

"It's about time," said Larry Smit, 52, who owns a construction company. 
"Get rid of all of them. They ain't doing anything."

But truck driver James Dordain, 41, said Compass had been doing a good 
job with an understaffed department and faced with an unprecedented 
natural disaster.

"They pushed a good man to the breaking point," said Dordain, referring 
to other government authorities. "When they came, it was really too 
late."

The mayor named Assistant Superintendent Warren Riley as acting 
superintendent.

Lt. David Benelli, president of the union for rank-and-file New Orleans 
officers, said he was shocked by the resignation.

"We've been through a horrendous time," Benelli said. "We've watched the 
city we love be destroyed. That is pressure you can't believe."

Benelli would not criticize Compass.

"You can talk about lack of organization, but we have been through two 
hurricanes, there was no communications, problems everywhere," he said. 
"I think the fact that we did not lose control of the city is a 
testament to his leadership."

But in fact, chaos reigned in New Orleans as Katrina's floodwaters rose. 
Gunfire and other lawlessness broke out around the city. Rescue workers 
reported being shot at.

At the height of the Katrina chaos, Compass fed the image of lawlessness 
in the city by publicly repeating allegations that people were being 
beaten and babies raped at the convention center, where thousands of 
evacuees had taken shelter. The allegations have since proved largely 
unsubstantiated.

Ronnie Jones, a former Louisiana state police officer and a criminal 
justice instructor at Tulane and Southeastern Universities, said 
communication and transportation problems after the storm forced 
commanders on the ground to operate without any direction from above.

"In the midst of that, I think any chief would have had trouble dealing 
with things," Jones said. "In a crisis you have to coordinate forces. I 
don't think he had the resources, the radios, the communications to do 
that."

Earlier in the day Tuesday, the department said that about 250 police 
officers - roughly 15 percent of the force - could face discipline for 
leaving their posts without permission during Katrina and its aftermath.

Each case will be investigated to determine whether the officer was 
truly a deserter or had legitimate reasons to be absent, Riley said.

"Everything will be done on a case-by-case basis. The worst thing we 
could do is take disciplinary action against someone who was stranded in 
the storm or whose child is missing," Riley said.

Sally Forman, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said it is not clear whether 
the deserters can be fired. She said the city is still looking into the 
civil service regulations.

"If they are deserters and deserted their post for no other reason than 
they were scared, then I don't see any need for them to come back," 
Benelli said.

But the union chief said he believes only a small fraction of the 
officers will wind up being deserters. "We know there were officers who 
had to make critical decisions about what to do with their families," 
Benelli said.

Riley said some officers lost their homes and some are looking for their 
families, but others "simply left because they said they could not deal 
with the catastrophe."

Before Katrina hit, Compass already had his hands full with an 
understaffed police department and a skyrocketing murder rate, even as 
the rate dropped dramatically in other cities.

Despite more than 10 years of reform efforts dating back to before 
Compass took office, police were dogged by allegations of brutality and 
corruption. Several studies indicated that the public's reluctance to 
cooperate with police was a factor in the city's crime problem.

Before Katrina, New Orleans had 3.14 officers per 1,000 residents - less 
than half the rate in Washington, D.C.

Also on Tuesday, the state Health Department reported that Katrina's 
death toll in Louisiana stood at 885, up from 841 on Friday.

Tuesday marked the second day of the official reopening of New Orleans, 
which had been pushed back last week when Hurricane Rita threatened. 
Nagin welcomed residents back to the Algiers neighborhood on Monday but 
imposed a curfew and warned of limited services.

Nagin also invited business owners in the central business district, the 
French Quarter and the Uptown section to inspect their property and 
clean up. But he gave no timetable for reopening those parts of the city 
to residents.



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