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New Orleans Police Keep Public Trust, Private Pain
New Orleans police detective Chad Perez inspects a house with a stolen ATM in the 6th District. Only two-thirds of the force showed up for work after Katrina.
(Photos By Andrea Bruce -- The Washington Post)
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The commander of the 6th District, Capt. Anthony Cannatella, said he wants everyone to know "the New Orleans police did not run out and abandon the city."
Over the past two weeks, police officers have made this shopping center their home. Someone fetched the street sign for the old headquarters: "S. Rampart and Martin Luther King Blvd." They grabbed an American flag from the Wal-Mart and hoisted it in the middle of the parking lot.
Cannatella has tried to keep some semblance of normalcy in the place. In the car where he sleeps, he has hung three starched, white uniform shirts wrapped in plastic. He's been wearing a ratty, gray T-shirt for several days.
"I'm not going to wear those starched shirts in this filth," he explained. "I'm saving them." But he's not sure when things will calm down enough for him to want to put one on.
One evening last week, about 17 officers of the 6th District gathered around some candles, a makeshift campfire of sorts, in one of their first breaks since the ordeal began.
The conversation was light at first with everyone laughing and joking, especially about their rescues.
"And he was wearing kneepads for some reason!"
"So the guy pulls flares out of his pocket and aims at the helicopter above us, and I said, 'Don't shoot the police!' I was like, 'Sit down, eat a ham sandwich.' "
But as the night continued, the tone shifted.
There was discussion about four officers who quit in recent days. One left after breaking his leg. Another, a rookie, just took off. Two, a man and woman who had been on the force for many years, handed the captain their badges at the end of last week and said they couldn't take any more.
Since then, one has returned to the force and two others have asked to come back. Many around the candles called them "cowards," and said they would never be accepted back.
"If you leave the fight and then come back afterwards, you may as well not have come back. At this point, you are no longer a policeman," said Officer Dumas Carter, 30.
