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New Orleans police chief quits
28/09/2005 08:49 - (SA)
Julia Silverman
New Orleans - Police Superintendent Eddie Compass resigned after four turbulent weeks in which the police force was wracked by desertions and disorganisation 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 on Tuesday. "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 resign.
'Sad day'
"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."
Nagin named Assistant Superintendent Warren Riley as acting superintendent.
Lieutenant 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 criticise Compass.
"You can talk about lack of organisation, 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.
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 co-ordinate 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% of the force - could face discipline for leaving their posts without permission during Katrina and its aftermath.
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.
- AP
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