| President’s
Message June 21, 2006
The recent decision by the City Administration to bring the National
Guard into the city has generated mixed responses from the citizens.
Some are unhappy about it & some think it is a positive move.
And why shouldn’t they? There are many citizens who feel that
the military presence will simply mean several hundred more enforcement
personnel on the streets & that will have a positive effect.
And that’s probably true. Of course, they don’t stop
to consider the fact that they are not urban police officers, they
are military. They don’t police a community, they acquire
real estate through force. They are not trained or equipped to provide
the assortment of police services that the community expects which
do not involve the discharging of an M-16. Their presence will provide
some ability to move some of the trained & qualified officers
we do have into the areas that have gotten out of control, and that
will probably be the only positive effect of this course of action.
The response from NOPD personnel has not been so optimistic. Most
officers see this as a clear signal that we have failed. And when
I say we, I don’t mean the NOPD, I mean the City and the Criminal
Justice System as it currently exists in this city. I don’t
see how it can be viewed any other way.
About 8 months or so ago, it seemed that there was only one positive
aspect to Katrina; that the enema-effect of the catastrophe had
rendered the City void of the criminal element. Completely, for
all intents & purposes. The City was safer at that moment than
it had ever been in its history. In the wake of all that tragedy
it seemed like there might be one thing God (or whoever you want
to think sent that piece of horror our way) gave back to those who
remained. After watching the rise of crime for nearly 30 years in
law enforcement, in a city where criminals had become so deeply
entrenched and so nearly out of control, it was an incredible phenomenon.
What an opportunity we had.
So here it is 8 months later, and it is clear that there is a vicious
criminal element once again firmly rooted in New Orleans, who has
no regard for the lives of their relatives, their neighbors, their
children, nor themselves. And not ours, either. They have no regard,
no respect, and as the multiple shooting events with the police
of the last few weeks have patently demonstrated, no fear. No fear
of us, and by “us” I mean Society in general and the
NOPD in particular. I suspect they won’t fear the National
Guard in New Orleans East, either. My AR-10 (and everyone else’s
long gun) is safely stowed in my closet so as not to intimidate
anyone. But intimidation is apparently no longer an issue of concern
as the Mayor was quoted in the Times-Picayune as saying, "They
will be armed, locked and loaded and prepared." But we still
won’t be.
Two, three, even four months from now, when the Guard packs up &
leaves, the Courts, the D.A., and Corrections had better be functioning
properly. Perhaps rather than soldiers, we could have asked for
Federal Prosecutors, Federal Judges, and Federal Detention Centers
& Confinement Facilities. That, is where the true problems lie.
The presence of the National Guard back in New Orleans is symptomatic
of a failed attempt at reconstructing our society & the lack
of an affirmative posture against this criminal element that we
have allowed to come back & thrive. And I say “we”
not as just NOPD, but as part of the overall citizenship that has
to take responsibility for where we are. It doesn’t matter
which branch(es) of the government & Criminal Justice System
failed most, or most often. The operative word is failure. We can
only hope that while the National Guard is here & we have the
opportunity to better deploy our police assets, the rest of the
City government works diligently to repair the Criminal Justice
System because the National Guard cannot fix this problem.
ONE NOPD
Michael Glasser, President PANO
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