Soul Not A Soldier
Tuesday, I attended the NONPAC meeting at the first district police station. Captain Colin spoke about the influx of youth into the city. The department and city officials had anticipated a rise in crime with a sudden shift in the population when the kids got out of schools in other cities and came back to New Orleans. In the week of June 4-10th the first district had 3 persons crimes, meaning assault, robbery, etc. In the following week, they had 8 persons crimes. Four of those resulted in arrests, they were, as they say, cleared. We had 16 auto thefts, which is way up, over double. In addition to the big central-city slaughter, there are some hot spots on Uruquart and a high digit block of St. Ann that the department is focusing on at this time. With all the vacant property, the places for dealers to hide their inventory is endless.
The National Guard is here so that our police can deal with this recent shift. It is interesting to note that right now, we are seeing the guard back AND the refrigerators are back. The prediction that there would be this summer wave of returnees who can finally deal with their clean-up in earnest was correct. The police department is stressing the need to address the fact that kids are at risk because they need to get involved with constructive activities and there were some people from a couple neighborhood organizations who are starting programs in their neighborhoods to give kids things to do.
The community-at-large that attend these monthly meetings tend to be very involved in the reconstruction of neighborhoods and they seem very eager to address this issue along with the police. One of these grass roots programs is called PORCH started by a man in the Esplanade Ridge area. I am learning more about it to see if it is something we should expand to other neighborhoods as part of our planning committee work in the Tulane/Galvez/Iberville corridor. We also learned that Officer Haney does a good mentoring program in the first district and officer Desmond Pratt has 75 kids he’s working with in the Iberville housing project and Craig school in Treme is starting a Cops for Kids program too. So, there are some holistic maneuvers addressing the crime issues we are experiencing now on the ground.
These aren’t your kids nor my kids and they have their own value systems in place by the time we get to them so it’s always a question of how effective we can be. I do get mad that their parents are incapable of giving them the necessary attention. It’s all about personal responsibility. For all of us. It’s our problem, it’s not fair. You can sit at your computer crying about the state of affairs here and preaching about how the NG is not a solution but realize that there are people in this city working on these issues. And it sucks, it’s tedious, it takes gobs of unpaid time and sometimes it’s boring. If you feel embarrassed by the presence of the National Guard and you see the need to find a real and meaningful solution to the larger problems in this city, talk to your NOPD district captain or your neighborhood association and see what kids programs are happening in your part of town. Offer a little of your time. Otherwise, it’s gonna be a long, bloody summer and we might even miss an opportunity to make an impact in the long term quality of life in New Orleans.
Up until now, the police have been very good about projecting what the next big issue will be regarding safety and quality of life in the city. However, they are not sure what the next trend will be, they are hopeful that the presence of the National Guard will alleviate some of the manpower issues. There are some officers who are getting burned out and leaving. This is a fact. They are still “working on crutches”, as the Captain put it and he added that the issue of housing perps is still a problem. Colin also said the justice system needs to get caught up with our crime. I can’t imagine how demoralizing it must be for these police officers watching the criminals get right back out on the street. Then to say you’re embarrassed by the National Guard being here? That’s so whacked.
Personally, I am really tired of working on fixing these big social problems in the city because there is always just a few people doing it and the rest just bitch. Community participation is critical as eyes and ears for the police and Colin urged us to remain diligent in reporting crimes so the department can use the statistics for requests for assistance and spot trends.
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I’m not embarrassed that the National Guard is here — I’m ashamed that we as a society have let it come to this. I don’t point the finger of blame at anyone else. It’s on all of our heads.
I appreciate the optimism in your post. However, I think it presumes a lot of responsiveness and willingness on the part of NOPD which I, frankly, find lacking.
I live in the Second District, not far from the intersection of Valence and Chestnut. This is a real problem spot. I phone the 2nd District headquarters about problems there several times a week. Frequently, nobody answers the phone. If somebody does answer the phone, then I am often simply directed to call the main non-emergency line (a complete waste of time). If somebody promises to take action and send an officer over, then the officer either a) never arrives or b) arrives long after the disturbance has ended.
As a community member, I am taking efforts to let the NOPD know about problems as they arise. I am trying to be their eyes and ears in my neighborhood. Yet, there is so little effort to react, and absolutely no institutional memory whatsoever about the repeated and ongoing problems at the exact same location.
So there is an enormous amount of well-founded frustration by people who *are* doing things other than sitting on their asses, and simply find that the NOPD is not a willing or able partner in putting things right in this city. There is a wide perception that the NOPD has simply “circled the wagons” and is primarily concerned with covering its own ass.
why not get kids who are susceptible to being drawn into crime to help with the clean-up and rebuilding? oftentimes, people are more reluctant to damage things that they had a hand in building. also, cleaning and construction might leave them too exhausted to think about getting into trouble afterwards. just a thought.
In our organization, we have been doing that to some extent. Actually, we are working with adults who act like they are still kids who are known crack users. We work with them as much as they can tolerate it because we work hard. The key is to embrace their contributions in hopes that they see they are valued. They have their good days and bad days. Right now, our man, Luther, is hanging out on the porch at the volunteer house at night and harassing them but they know he’s not in his right mind and they are trying to deal with it. When he works with us, he’s great. He developed a very efficient and genius method of getting debris from floor to wheelbarrow that we use all the time. Truly. And keep in mind, these we have volunteering in our neighborhood are young kids from places like NY and Michigan. They are giving their time to our city. It’s a rough experience for them. So, can’t people in Uptown give a little to their flooded neighbors?
Having left for grad school and returned, I find that one of our biggest enemies here is the futile attitude. That standard line that it’s the same old shit and that we can’t change things. For instance, if your police are not responding….you must contact your city council member. We got about five pissed off women in Treme after Katrina for that same reason and we sat our captain’s ass down. I am telling you, it worked! And that is part of the reason we need the guard here. Our police really are at their limit.
fatalism, for some reason, runs rampant in southern louisiana, i know my family has more than it’s fair share of that attitude. i think sometimes that it’s as much a part of our culture as anything else, it gives rise to our sense of humor and general take on enjoying life. however, the ugly side of it is, as you pointed out, a kind of morose laziness that throws it’s hands up and quits (and weirdly, enjoys it when someone fails). it’s very frustrating. consequently, new orleans is a harsh environment for idealists. it’s one of the reasons why huey p. tried to eviscerate new orleans’ stranglehold on the state (that, and the machine here was adamantly opposed to him).