| President’s
Message February 3, 2007
As we have been telling the public for many months now, long before
the Danziger investigation, this District Attorney cannot and will
not protect the public. He will, however, do whatever it takes to
protect his career.
There have been nearly 200 murders in New Orleans post-Katrina,
and he has not successfully prosecuted one first degree murder case.
But he has no trouble in dropping violent crime cases because he
can’t locate witnesses. Witnesses that the media found in
an hour. And he had no trouble in allowing the men responsible for
shooting P/O Kevin Thomas in the head, while the officer was trying
to prevent them from looting an Algiers business the day after the
storm, to walk out of jail without ANY prosecution. The public should
be outraged and shocked. We are outraged but not shocked. We have
learned to expect nothing different. Where is the outcry from all
of the “activists”? Where is the march on City Hall?
Where are the demonstrators carrying signs and demanding justice?
Mr. Jordan CAN'T (or WON'T) prosecute people who shoot our citizens.
Mr. Jordan CAN'T (or WON'T) prosecute people who shoot our police.
But he CAN prosecute doctors and nurses for murder when the coroner
can't even say it WAS murder, and he CAN prosecute police officers
for doing the same thing that P/O Kevin Thomas was doing when he
was shot in the head; protecting the public in the face of disaster
and complete social disorder.
It appears Mr. Jordan's ability and desire to prosecute vicious
criminals is hinged to the political advantage he can realize from
the notoriety he receives from doing so. What's even more egregious,
is that Mr. Jordan can pontificate and appear in front of the cameras
when the political advantage is clear, but he is nowhere to be seen
when it comes time to accept responsibility for failure. He sends
his subordinates to fall on the sword and apologize instead. The
only thing more repugnant than the failure itself is his unwillingness
to take responsibility for his failed oath.
It is no wonder that all of the Federal agencies have decided to
dedicate their resources to aid the citizens of New Orleans. They
have retooled their rules and are literally jumping through hoops
to allow for cases made by the police to be prosecuted in Federal
Court. This is not an easy task, and they are making an enormous
effort. But make no mistake, they are not here to merely assist
the NOPD by supplementing the number of police officers on the street
with federal agents. They are here to help the NOPD provide an avenue
by which the arrest cases made by the NOPD can be sent to the United
States Attorney for prosecution. Cases that ordinarily should be
sent to Mr. Eddie Jordan, will now be sent to Mr. Jim Letten. They
will be sent to someone who the citizens can rely on to do what
should have been done all along. Once again, the burden of responsibility
for fighting crime has shifted to someone else. Once again, Mr.
Jordan has been allowed off the hook. Once again, we have excused
his behavior.
How do we entrust someone with enforcing the law, when he fails
to run his office within the limits of civil law and costs the taxpayers
hundreds of thousands of dollars in court-ordered penalties. Money
that could have been spent upgrading vital City services and public
safety? How do we continue to allow him to run an office that fails
at every level, to the point we must beg for federal help? How much
longer should we allow him to jeopardize the safety of the City
of New Orleans?
ONE NOPD
Michael Glasser, President PANO
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