Way to go NOPD!

[dimas]

So there I was watching the news and among all the stories relating to the aftermath of Katrina I begin to get more and more disgusted with all the looting that seems to ge going on.  Not looting for essentials like food or water, this I and I believe everyone can understand, but the looting of merchandise, shoes, jewelry, TV's (there isn't even any power) and other non-essential items.

It shocks me how quickly society seems to break down in circumstances such as these.   But among all that it totally pissed me off to see that a news reporter was filming from inside of a Wal-mart showing first hand what the looters were doing and he follows it with the question "and where are all the police?"  and answers "well they are in aisle 6" or something like that.  Next thing you know he and the camera crew are following around two black female police officers IN FULL UNIFORM, filling up a shopping cart with things for themselves!

Thankfully this is on video and I hope to hell that there will be reprecussions for these two idiots!   Way to go NOPD, you get what you pay for!

[George W. Maschke]

Dimas,

While I agree that the actions of these two police officers is deplorable, I don't see how their race and sex are of relevance.

It is perhaps worth noting that NOPD apparently requires applicants to pass a pre-employment polygraph examination:

http://www.nopdonline.com/rec.htm

[dimas]

George,

The description as far as the two officers' sex and ethnicity was only that, a description of the officers, nothing else was meant to be read into it or implied.  

[retcopper]

Dimas;
 
Just like the people on this board to assume the two officers were looting for their own personal benefit. Does anyone know what was put in the cart? Keep this in mind. The command structure and centralization is nonexintent because of no ccommunications  Officers are commandeering cars from showrooms so they can perform police duites but you people on here will assume they are stealing them.  I for one will give them the benefit  of the doubt and assume the goods were necessary for them to perform their duties.

[Sergeant1107]

Dimas;

Just like the people on this board to assume the two officers were looting for their own personal benefit...

Amazing.

At the time you posted that you had been registered on this board for a whole day.  And yet you are apparently familiar enough with everyone on this board to make such comments.

It seems as though you have little to contribute to any discussion on the polygraph, but have already made up your mind that anyone who is against the polygraph is wrong.  With nothing to contribute you seem to be content to limit yourself to personal attacks upon anyone who posts an antipolygraph sentiment here.

Since you apparently didn't know what YHBT meant, let me supply a useful definition for you:
A troller is looking for a response...ANY response, and he will chum the waters with complaints, insults, compliments, and inflammatory tidbits hoping that someone...ANYONE, will take the bait. Generally quite harmless - practices a form of catch and release. Nonetheless, he can upset the delicate ecology of a discussion forum. Once a forum becomes aware of his presence, however, all feeding activity ceases and the troller must move on to more promising waters.

Now if someone calls you a troll you will know why.

[cavhan7]

Dimas,

While I agree that the actions of these two police officers is deplorable, I don't see how their race and sex are of relevance.

It is perhaps worth noting that NOPD apparently requires applicants to pass a pre-employment polygraph examination:

http://www.nopdonline.com/rec.htm

To tell you the truth i have to disagree with you on this one. I dont think their requirements for pre employment polygraph has any relavance. It is just as much relavent as their sex or race.  Who knows what they were gonna do with the things that they took. For all we know they could have had kids at home with no food. I know that they are police officers and they should expected higher standards and what not but desperate times call for desperate measure. Judging that they were "robbing" or stealing for a bad reason may possibly be our subconcsious  telling us that we are judging them because they were black.

[George W. Maschke]

cavhan7,

Pre-employment polygraph screening is supposed to result in a more honest, less corruption-prone workforce, though there is no proof that such is the case. On the other hand, polygraph screening predictably screens out many of the most honest and conscientious law enforcement applicants, who are wrongly branded as liars.

While I did not see the video Dimas mentioned, and don't know what items the officers in question were taking, another news report suggests that at least some NOPD officers were looting to help themselves, not the public:

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001051261

'Times-Picayune' Announces New Home -- in Houma -- and Reports Looting by Cops and Firemen

By E&P Staff

Published: August 30, 2005 6:25 PM ET

NEW YORK The battered Times-Picayune of New Orleans, which evacuated its downtown office this afternoon, posted a simple note to it staffers on its Web site late this afternoon: "We are working at the Houma Courier for a few days. If you have news, call 985-850-1182. We plan to set up a longer term newsroom in Baton Rouge. Call the Advocate to find out where we are."

Meanwhile, two staffers published a story on one of the Web site's blogs, reporting on the looting in the city -- joined in by cops and firemen who had been called to the scene.

Other reports, and TV footage, have shown brazen looting at many sites around the city. One compared the current climate in the increasingly desperate city to "Sodom and Gomorrah."

One looter shot a local police officer, but Tuesday night word came that the officer was expected to survive.

At the Times-Picayune Web site, Mike Perlstein and Brian Thevenot wrote that at a Wal-Mart on Tchoupitoulas Street, mass looting broke out after a giveaway of supplies was announced at that location. While some did indeed carry away food and essentials, others "cleared out jewelry racks and carted out computers, TVs, and appliances on handtrucks. Some officers joined in taking whatever they could, including one New Orleans cop who loaded a shopping cart with a compact computer and a 27-inch flat screen television.

"Throughout the store and parking lot, looters pushed carts and loaded trucks and vans alongside officers. One man said police directed him to Wal-Mart from Robert's Grocery, where a similar scene was taking place. A crowd in the electronics section said one officer broke the glass DVD case so people wouldn't cut themselves.

"The police got all the best stuff. They're crookeder than us," one man said. Most officers, though, simply stood by powerless against the tide of law breakers.

One veteran officer said, "It's like this everywhere in the city. This tiny number of cops can't do anything about this. It's wide open."

Some groups, the reporters wrote, "organized themselves into assembly lines to more efficiently cart off goods. Inside the store, one woman was stocking up on make-up. She said she took comfort in watching police load up their own carts. 'It must be legal,' she said. 'The police are here taking stuff, too.'"

[dimas]

Dimas;

Just like the people on this board to assume the two officers were looting for their own personal benefit. Does anyone know what was put in the cart? Keep this in mind. The command structure and centralization is nonexintent because of no ccommunications  Officers are commandeering cars from showrooms so they can perform police duites but you people on here will assume they are stealing them.  I for one will give them the benefit  of the doubt and assume the goods were
necessary for them to perform their duties.

Nope, no assumption here.   It is a fact that they were shopping for themselves.  No other reason, than for personal gain to themselves.  While other officers may in fact be "looting" for good reasons (i.e. pharmacies come to mind in that they have to get medicines to people who need them) These particular two are just pathetic and opportunistic sorrry excuses for LE officers.  It is unfortunately, officers like these that make all the valiant efforts and non stop 24 hours shifts that all the good cops are doing worthless.

Ultimately, it is you who is ends up looking bad, as YOU ASSumed incorrectly in this matter and also ASSumed that you could simply "paint brush" the people who post on this board and fit them into one category.  We are all very different and we DO NOT all agree with what the others believe.  Some may assume, but most of us who usually post frequently on this site are fact driven.

[polyscam]

Dimas wrote:

...two black female police officers

Ummm...wasn't it you who assailed me in another thread for commentary with regard to the discrepancy in some departments about gender and ethnicity?  Thanks for flying your colors.  Next time be more careful before damning me with the label of racist.      

[Jeffery]

Who knows what they were gonna do with the things that they took. For all we know they could have had kids at home with no food. I know that they are police officers and they should expected higher standards and what not but desperate times call for desperate measure. Judging that they were "robbing" or stealing for a bad reason may possibly be our subconcsious  telling us that we are judging them because they were black.

How does a shopping cart full of DVDs help a hungry kid?

[dimas]

Dimas wrote:

Ummm...wasn't it you who assailed me in another thread for commentary with regard to the discrepancy in some departments about gender and ethnicity?  Thanks for flying your colors.  Next time be more careful before damning me with the label of racist.      

It seems very odd, I simply wrote the description of the officers, nothing was meant to be inferred or read into it, but already TWO of you that are caucasian seemed to have read into it your own prejudices and inferred that it was an attack on the officers race and ethnicity.  Had I wanted to make a point about that I would have capitalized it or made a comment regarding that issue.

I highly suggest that you READ posts as given and not make assumptions about what is being written.  

Funny, but it isn't my true colors that were flown, I made no attack on the officers for their race or ethinicity, I made the attack based on the fact that they were OFFICERS IN FULL UNIFORM that were LOOTING!  It is you who made the inference out of your own prejudices/racism.  Once again Brandon, it seems to me that you have a REAL problem with minorites.

[dimas]

It is perhaps worth noting that NOPD apparently requires applicants to pass a pre-employment polygraph examination:

http://www.nopdonline.com/rec.htm

While I can see the point you are trying to make, I don't think you can directly blame the polygraph for this as it really cannot be an indicator of future behavior.  These officers may have lead a good (moral) past but I think that the bigger issue at hand is the pay scale that a city of nearly 500,000 offers to it police officers.  You get what you pay for and when you pay crap you tend to hire from the bottom of the success ladder, as well as open up the gate to corruption.

I refer all interested to this site:

1st year police officer pay
www.policepay.net/zmainlinks/1st%20Year%20Base%20Pay.htm

30th year police officer pay
www.policepay.net/zmainlinks/30th%20Year%20Base%20Pay.htm


As can be see New Orleans PD is very close to the bottom with it's 1st year pay of 29K and damn near the bottom with its 35k per year salary after 30 years.

[retcopper]

Dimas:
What are your FACTS that they were taking items for their own good?

[dimas]

The FACT is that I saw it with my own two eyes, however, just for you I was able to find this article that recounts the same news story I saw.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/8/31/102233.shtml

There you have it!  

[rcop]

Looking at the police pay Web site, I was amazed at the different amounts of police pay throughout the country.  I also thought it was interesting that 31 of the 35 highest paying departments were located in California.