The best thing I’ve ever heard….
“In another case, a man arrested in the shooting of a rival — and released on bond the same day — is being sought by police a week later, suspected of shooting the same man again.”
It’s a quote from this morning’s Times Picayune. Seems Warren Riley would have us believe that the violence is due to Katrina Stress or some such gibberish. I, of course, have a different theory. The criminal justice system in this city is broken, and not broken by the storm, it’s been broken for at least a decade. If I’m a criminal in New Orleans and I know that there is roughly a 20% chance I’ll go to jail for killing someone and, as the above quote assures us, that if I don’t actually kill the person I’m trying to kill, then I can just try again later that day.
I don’t think this has anything to do with the storm, I think it has to do with the criminal element realizing that their best chance at being a criminal and not going to jail is to live in New Orleans. Even Houston is having trouble dealing with the criminal element we kindly exported to them a year ago. so much so that there’s a public outcry for the mayor of Houston to send evacuees home. The worst of our crime spree has not been seen yet. We’re going to end up a city full of criminals where anyone that has a better option to live somewhere else will have to move and just leave the city to the thugs.
I know I’m being fatalistic, but someone tell me what’s going to keep that from happening? The police? The judges? The mayor? Is there an Atticus Finch type out there? Hell, a Judge Dredd even? All I hear are excuses.
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What you need is help from surrounding jurisdictions, the state and the feds. Although, I’ve never been a big fan of Richard Ieyoub(sp?) but he seems to be trying to get some things done. I know that Jim Letton is trying to arrest as many as possible under federal jurisdiction. Harry Lee has his hands full right now with the gangs.
It would help if AG Foti would help with things other than sending unwinnable cases to the DA.
If I were the Gov I’d make sure that NOLA had the resources to keep the thugs locked up. I’d have made it a top priority. Believe me the money is available and if we don’t nip this in the bud it will spread to other areas. It’s already bad in JP and EBR.
Riley needs to step down.
Laurie
Well as long as you got Ray Nagin, you’re stuck with a corrupt and inept police force as well as an inept D.A.’s office. I see it getting much, much worse before it gets better. Probably something along the lines of the police officers being found guilty of murder-for-hire several years ago. That’s when the court of public opinion and dwindling tourism due to crime forced the hiring of a new police chief who tried to clean out the place.
The question is…when will New Orleans clean out the deadwood again?