$(document).ready( function () { talk_rendercallback({"enabled":"0","islive":"0","eid":5814,"total":"83","discussion":[{"nm":"Sheila","rs":"0","ms":"I need to get my family out of this city. People are constantly asking me why did we come back. I honestly do not have an answer. I just wonder if New Orleans is just a snapshot of how bad things are in most places in the world. Is this just evidence of unparalleled moral decay. I\'m afraid for us all.","pt":"Dec 14, 2010 12:23"},{"nm":"Andrzej Kubis","rs":"0","ms":" The case of cops-turned-murderers in post-Katrina New Orleans is shocking but does not surprise me. This kind of police brutality and abuse has been reported (unfortunately) in many places across America. It proves that those who &quot;serve and protect&quot; are not always on citizens\' side. We need more independent, investigative reporters who are willing to uncover crimes committed by dirty cops, corrupt government officials, etc. Great job, congratulations and THANK YOU, Frontline.\n\nAndrzej Kubis\nChicago","pt":"Nov 29, 2010 18:15"},{"nm":"Larry Bumgardner","rs":"0","ms":"The culture of New Orleans cops I think stems from the fact that they have traditionally been some of the lowest paid employees of any organization I\'m familiar with.  The low pay brought lots of candidates forward because of the appeal of making big bucks as a cop through illegal actions.  The police culture was corrupt.  It bred a uniquely sinister kind of policeman who depended on others to back him up.  It is easy to see why they were paranoid when the city became impossible to get under control after Katrina.  It is easy to see that, knowing what they knew about their treatment of New Orleans citizens, they would have been paranoid about being shot at or attacked by citizens.  They bred this climate of fear and in the end they had to deal with a monster of their own creation.  I simply want them to get the same kind of treatment a common criminal would have gotten in New Orleans.  In my mind, their punishment should be much worse because they betrayed the trust of the people who hired them.  Disgusing.","pt":"Nov 20, 2010 08:45"},{"nm":"brenda patterson","rs":"0","ms":"another case of shoot first and ask questions later. i know there was a lot of confusion during that time but police could have stopped and ask question and not just to assume everyone were looters. if everyting was reported correctly by the police why did it take fbi investigation to prove them wrong. license to kill","pt":"Nov 17, 2010 12:06"},{"nm":"Bob Gerber","rs":"0","ms":"Not your best job of reporting!  I watched it all on 11/16/10.  TO EXPECT us to believe that Henry Glover\'s friends and family were beaten so fiercely by police without reporting accurately what the family did to cause such a reaction is incredible!!\n\nThere were times during the program when I expected your reporters to blame President Bush for the whole mess.\n\nIn contrast, the piece on Stonehenge was well done and will likely keep me on as a funder.\n\nThank you;\nSincerely,  (without wax);\nBob","pt":"Nov 17, 2010 05:59"},{"nm":"Mary Jane","rs":"0","ms":"Thank you Frontline for this informative program.  I never knew anything about this until now and am glad that a lot of good came out of this.  I hope this program scares the corrupted and immorale cops down to their very bones. What is hidden in darkness, will one day, be revealed in the light.  Pray for this nation!","pt":"Nov 17, 2010 00:03"},{"nm":"Steve Hahn","rs":"0","ms":"Just watched Law & Disorder on my local station, and one thing seemed to be overlooked.  The police account of what happened when Will Tanner brought Henry Glover to the Haban School for medical attention after being shot said that Glover was already dead at that point.  Then it says that both men were put in handcuffs.  What Frontline seemed to miss was that if Glover was indeed already dead, there\'d be no reason to use handcuffs.  Hopefully, this hasn\'t escaped the notice of those seeking justice for Mr. Glover.","pt":"Nov 16, 2010 23:41"},{"nm":"Semmes","rs":"0","ms":"I would like to thank Attorney General Eric Holder\'s office. Were it not for Holder\'s urging these people, and those responsible for the Danzinger shooting, would have never been brought to justice. ","pt":"Nov 16, 2010 22:02"},{"nm":"Dennis Law","rs":"0","ms":"I don\'t think much of how this world, and especially this country has turned out. This nation is the most violent country in the world and greed is accepted like the very air we breath. That being said, it would be even worse without &quot;Frontline&quot; at work making this world a little better than it was. You people are my hero\'s in life. Thanks!!! ","pt":"Nov 13, 2010 15:22"},{"nm":"Thierry","rs":"0","ms":"a great program...Yeah the cops were under stress during hurricane Katrina but to start shooting people randomly?\nWhat happened?\nWere they thinking of taking over the city with their devotion to justice? At any cost?\nTheir had assault rifles against unarmed citizens and these killings should have not have taken place...","pt":"Oct 16, 2010 00:09"},{"nm":"charles la","rs":"0","ms":"Mr. Grover\'s brother\'s forgiveness of the indicted police officers is touching.... I have to forgive them so I can ask for forgiveness for my own sins. (paraphrased)\n\nThe comment about the tuna sandwich bag (paraphrased) police officers use to plant evidence (a handgun) was scary. What else do they carry around, drugs?\n\nThank you FBI for bringing justice to the dead victims and bringing back trust in the system.\n\nThanks Frontline as usual.","pt":"Oct 14, 2010 17:27"},{"nm":"reality check","rs":"0","ms":"here\'s a reality check for those of you who think you have the right to pass judgement on the law or on any human being for that matter. an OPINION is all you have. I\'m not here to take sides. I send this message out to justify the means of FACTUAL evidence no one wants to hear. We are held accountable, no doubt. But as I look at the world around me, I see it diving not uniting. We have forgotten what truly matters, GOD!!!! Yeah that\'s right! If this gets out I know people will love this! I doubt this will help anyone, I can only hope there still a little light in this world to realize TRUTH. You can state the matter, have all your statistics, but in the end without any type of faith, well....I guess everyone is gonna be complaining for a lifetime.","pt":"Sep 24, 2010 16:48"},{"nm":"Jimmy","rs":"0","ms":"Truly scary to see such incidents still abound. But then, not much has changed since the early times of this country.  What is even more scary is when power is given to such beings.  Jimmy","pt":"Sep  4, 2010 08:02"},{"nm":"Scott Yamanashi","rs":"0","ms":"I my repeated trips to New Orleans, I have been accosted by officers three times.  None were in marked cars, nor wearing a uniform.  I had no idea why they were looking at me, but if I didn\'t run, who knows what would have happened?  I would never feel comfortable approaching any NOPD, and it remains to be seen whether I will ever return.  I do know this:  I am glad I didn\'t live there and have this apparent martial law occur to take away my right to defend myself - because I would die defending it FROM the police!","pt":"Sep  2, 2010 14:58"},{"nm":"Mike","rs":"0","ms":"As a police officer that was sent to New Orleans  a couple weeks after the storm to assist I found the program to be very disturbing. I spent one week in the 7th District- East New Orleans, 1 week in the 4th- Algiers, and two weeks in the 8th - French Quarter. I worked with Officers from NOPD, LSP, ICE and the National Guard.  At no time did I witness any illegal activities by the fellow police officers assigned to the city. Some of the officers were very stressed and tired, but many acted very professionally considering the circumstances. When I first read about the allegations at the Danzinger Bridge and the incident in Algiers I assumed they were completely false.  I found it very hard to believe a police officer would deliberately shoot an innocent citizen without just cause, or the fear for their own safety. The attempted cover up on both investigations afterwards, were just unbelievable and unacceptable. Hopefully a complete investigation will bring justice to all parties involved.     ","pt":"Sep  1, 2010 10:07"},{"nm":"soca","rs":"0","ms":"I\'ve read a lot of these comments, some of which seem bizarre. We\'ve just watched a program on police misconduct and people are talking about &quot;young black men killing each other&quot; and &quot;crime in NYC&quot;. These are other topics and have nothing to do with the behavior of New Orleans cops who seem to be acting more like terrorists than any kind of police force. The bottom line is that they should be prosecuted and sent to jail for a long time. Inexcusable behavior. We have to prosecute the action and not who did it. Because they are police they are not entitled to a pass. Because they are police they should be given longer sentences. I would really like to know why everyone is obsessed about looting. The city was under water for christ sake. The problem seems to be a love for material things more than fellow human beings. This is not a sustainable model for any kind of society. ","pt":"Sep  1, 2010 01:45"},{"nm":"jon ","rs":"0","ms":"its wonderful to see the us government killing there own. keep up the great work.","pt":"Sep  1, 2010 00:42"},{"nm":"billygeedum","rs":"0","ms":"@Billy Gee\n\n&quot;Whatever resonative impact this story may have crashes down at 41:50:\n&quot;In fact, the police were firing on unarmed civilians, Katrina survivors searching for food and medicine.&quot;\n\nIn fact? Fact? That can NOT be stated as fact.&quot;\n\nGive me a break! Listen to the show!  &quot;What federal prosecutors argued happened that day...But federal prosecutors say... &quot;  Did they get Budget rental truck?  Is that fact?  It was in the report.  They are recounting what the federal prosecutors claim, and if found guilty you betcha, can be considered fact via the preponderance of the evidence.","pt":"Aug 30, 2010 14:39"},{"nm":"Steve M.","rs":"0","ms":"To say that looting ,rape and disorder did not take place by lawless thugs during Katrina is absurd. To say that looting /stealing didn\'t take place by those who were in dire straits would be a lie. If police officers were shot at first they then have every right to fire back & with deadly force if required particulary in times where civil disorder has been lost & must be re - established. If this report is true I\'m glad justice was served on behalf of the families of the victims. For those families that had people shot or killed by corrupt police officers and have yet been vindicated I pray that their vindication be manifested swiftly. As having served in public safety there is truth to the battle fatigue these police officers were experiencing. However I believe President Bush,FEMA , Mayor Nagan and the New Orleans Police Department were not prepared to handle this kind of disaster and responded very slowly to help the people of New Orleans. The President could have had  a rapid military response before and after the storm that would have quelled much of this violence and had the basic life neccesities on the ground quickly. As a fire instructor I was appalled at the President\'s, Mayor Nagin\'s & FEMAS delayed responses.There was a total breakdown in the system which I believe led to the chaos in the NOPD who took the law into their own hands resulting in the deaths of innocent people. The amazing thing is I HAVE NOT HEARD OF ONE NATIONAL GUARDSMEN USING NON NECCASSARY LETHAL FIRE POWER DURING THE ENTIRE KATRINA EVENT. HAD THE MILITARY BEEN PUT INTO ACTION MUCH SOONER AND BEEN ALLOWED TO ACT AS THE NEW ORLEANS POLICE DEPARTMENT FOR THIS EVENT WE MAY NOT HAVE THESE KIND OF DEATHS RESULTING FROM CORRUPT COPS FIRNG AT INNOCENT CITIZENS. I hope valuable lessons were learned and corrected here because I believe we will more Katrina\'s hit the Gulf Coast and even civil unrest throughout major U.S. cities based on the current economic conditions,race relations and other unerving factors in our country. I believe the worst is yet to come in this country and may we be prepared to handle them effectivley.","pt":"Aug 29, 2010 19:30"},{"nm":"Anthony","rs":"0","ms":"I am ashamed to say that I have been blinded by racist attitudes deep within me.  The authorities and the main-stream media capitalize on such attitudes to cast &quot;those people&quot; as our opposition who deserve whatever they get.  With our complacency, they invalidate their victims and reinforce ideas we choose to remain ignorant of only to be manipulated again and again.","pt":"Aug 29, 2010 18:31"},{"nm":" DOJ trend ","rs":"0","ms":"This is the tip of an iceburg.  It starts at the Department of Justice.  There is a policy of protecting judges, lawyers and law enforcement at all costs.  Unfortunately the cost is legitimaticy and trust. They are essentially immune from refusing to provide their HONEST SERVICES, or be held accountable, especially judges. Thank you Department of Justice a for making lies and fraud your hallmark.  Truth in court is a thing of the past.  \n\nOne lawyer in Miami County Indiana explained it this way...&quot;it\'s not about truth and justice any more, it\'s about who can get away with the biggest lie!&quot;  &quot;It\'s a competition within the Bar&quot;, he says.   \n\nOpen fraud in court is now being &quot;certified&quot; in Indiana by the chief judges of the courts (Appeals and Supreme).  When judges can be openly corrupt, don\'t expect officers to act with integrity. The sense of invulnerability carries down to the streets, as this report demonstrates.\n\nGod help us, because this is a beginning stages of a US meltdown that is apparently OK with our Attorney General. Public Corruption is growing. I wish we had elected a man with guts to &quot;change&quot; this trend.  \n\n\n\n  ","pt":"Aug 29, 2010 18:30"},{"nm":"GI","rs":"0","ms":"Amazing, is this 2010 or 1960?  The story is almost unbelievable but sadly true.  I applaud Frontline, AC Thompson, and The Times Picayune for bring this story to light.  Otherwise justice would have never been done.\n\nPS\> I\'m appalled by some of the comments posted in response to this story.  Especially those comments that state the victims are criminals or liers. HOW do you condone the actions of a police department that shoots unarmed people, covers it up, BURNS a body, and files false police reports? SO WHAT if some of the victims were stealing, does this deserve murder? As a former Police Officer myself, I hope the NOPD officers who are guilty of this crime get the fullest punishment the law can provide. ","pt":"Aug 28, 2010 22:51"},{"nm":"Lindsay","rs":"0","ms":"Even within the context of the mass chaos and confusion that occurred in the aftermath of the storm, the NOPD still had no reason to treat civilians the way they did. The looters searching for food and items to help them survive should have been the LAST thing the NOPD worried about.  Their time and energy should have been spent on helping to provide medical assistance-which they were obviously failing at as we saw in the case of Henry Glover, continue with search and rescue while maintaining control as was possible and necessary.  People were taking clothes, TV\'s or food-who cares?\n\nThe police chiefs interviewed where OBVIOUSLY lying because when asked about a &quot;ham sandwich,&quot; they looked every where else except at the reporter.  Classic liars, blaming all the misconduct on someone else and pointing fingers.  All those years of corruption and practicing &quot;getting stories right&quot; is not happening here. All of this is very disappointing to see.  \n\nAnd how does a skull just disappear? Come on people, the truth comes to light sooner or later. I am absolutely appalled.  Thank you Frontline for investigating the aftermath of Katrina and shedding light and attention on victims-who would have otherwise not had a voice, and would have gone nameless and invisible to the rest of the nation; and for exposing the misconduct and brutality on the part of the NOPD.  ","pt":"Aug 28, 2010 18:07"},{"nm":"cool breeze","rs":"0","ms":"You could clearly tell that the 2 chiefs of police were lyin thru their teeth when the ? about the &quot;ham sandwich&quot;(drop gun) was put to them.They never heard of such a thing!...just look at their faces and eyes/and their failure to look the reporter in the eye.Liars both!","pt":"Aug 27, 2010 22:53"},{"nm":"Billy Gee","rs":"0","ms":"Whatever resonative impact this story may have crashes down at 41:50:\n&quot;In fact, the police were firing on unarmed civilians, Katrina survivors searching for food and medicine.&quot;\n\nIn fact? Fact? That can NOT be stated as fact.\n\nI have long cherished and supported the value of Frontline. Yet your credibility has been blackened by this disingenuity. Tell me that this is not manipulative journalism, plain and simple.\n\nP.S. Fair disclosure: during natural disasters I have repeatedly broken in through plate glass windows of appliance stores in my desperation to obtain food and medicine. For my family.","pt":"Aug 27, 2010 21:56"},{"nm":"Laurie","rs":"0","ms":"There is no doubt that things were not handled as they should have been in these cicumstances.  I always enjoy watching Frontline, but found this episode to be particularly biased.  The thing that bothered me the most was that either the brother or friend of Henry Glover was clearly lying as they each had a different account of the trcuks location.  It also bothered me that the witnesses of the account willing to speak on camera were 2 individuals that were not present for the shooting of Henry Glover.  In my mind, it is still a possibility that Henry Glover and his friend were posing a risk to the officer that shot him.  This, however would never excuse how his brother & good samaritan were treated.\nTo me, it doesn\'t seem as if the whole truth is available from either side, so I don\'t appreciate the way that this was made to be an open & shut case.","pt":"Aug 27, 2010 18:28"},{"nm":"Pat","rs":"0","ms":"I find it odd that the police corruption apologists still keep squawking even after those who they apologize for have been found guilty in federal court.  ","pt":"Aug 27, 2010 17:34"},{"nm":"P.J.","rs":"0","ms":"The obvious conclusion from Frontline\'s complete, comprehensive and unbaised story is all white New Orleans police are bad and all black victims are innocent.  Now I understand. The mystery is solved.","pt":"Aug 27, 2010 14:47"},{"nm":"Phil","rs":"0","ms":"It\'s amazing to me that in reading some of the comments here that the few apologists for the police were finding the vaguest excuses to justify what the NOPD did. One responder (Tom)  felt that speed traps were more of a national police issue than the murdering of unarmed civilians. Another (J Simms) essentially felt that it\'s a kill-or-be-killed situation even if a suspect does not readily have a gun in hand. \nAnd here is Frontline, telling a story of a man (Henry Glover) shot by an officer from a balcony perch, with no directive to surrender or even explain himself. Then the man is driven to a makeshift precinct where he is left to bleed out while the unarmed men who bring him in are handcuffed and soundly beaten (with racial epithets thrown in to boot). Finally, the man is presumably executed by one of the officers (fingered by Glover\'s brother) and cremated to destroy the evidence. Yeah, speed traps and parking tickets are a much bigger problem with law enforcement. It seems that it\'s not just some of the police who are out of their minds in this country.\nBravo, Frontline, keep it coming, because I\'m sorry to say the awful truth will not stop either.  ","pt":"Aug 27, 2010 14:10"},{"nm":"Emma Littlejohn","rs":"0","ms":"Outstanding.  I can usually depend on Frontline to provide fairly decent investigative programming, as did Law & Disorder.  Thank you. ","pt":"Aug 27, 2010 12:56"},{"nm":"tom","rs":"0","ms":"Not checked you in 10 months. I see you are still banging the same old worn out drum; police corruption (or corruption in general) in the south. There\'s more corruption in New York of all kinds than the rest of the country put together. Funny how you never hear about it unless it must come out. And then it\'s usually localized as &quot;Wall Street&quot; never &quot;New York&quot;. That\'s what you get with a New York centric media. Yes the US is falling apart or falling behind in almost every meaningful way but this old standard is the big ticket. Lots of liberal points to be scored here. Maybe win an award right? I used to respect you above all others. You meant so much to me. This stuff is just lazy. What\'s the real learning? Very little. The real intention is shame on you and prestige on us. I do not believe you really care about those people. You used them for your own purpose. And i\'ve noticed how few non positive comments are posted. One more reason for my lack of respect. I would like to see a well done documentary with a macro view on policing all across the country.  What are the trends. i.e. speed traps, ticket costs, new tickets, lower speed limits, gimmicks of all kinds. There are way more speed traps in small towns now. The ticket costs are outrageous. Cost of fully fitted car/suv. Who the seat belt law really benefits. Drunken driving at officers discretion now. New excuses to pull you over. Policing for tickets and confiscations vs. crime management.  Driving was fun once. I see a real trend there. Just me? Too hot to handle?  Like where it\'s headed? ","pt":"Aug 27, 2010 03:53"},{"nm":"Joe Hunt","rs":"0","ms":"Read what was written by a small time writer and ignored 5 years ago...................\n\n\<a href=&quot;http://www.lewrockwell.com/duggan/duggan10.html&quot;\>http://www.lewrockwell.com/duggan/duggan10.html\<\/a\>","pt":"Aug 27, 2010 03:00"},{"nm":"From Seattle","rs":"0","ms":"The NOPD may be the most infamously corrupted agency in the United States. I remember the case a few years ago of an NOPD officer robbing a restaurant and killing everyone of the staff after closing. One child of a worker hid under a table and later identified the officer when they showed up later as an &quot;investigator&quot;. I agree that NOPD should answer to a federal judge for a period of five to ten years and be rebuilt and retrained. A department in central Canada had to try to comeback from proven allegations that some members were driving drunk native men past the edge of town in the back of their squad cars and dumping them to walk back and people started freezing to death in the winters. In the over ten years since the last inquiry on this matter that department has made real progress with citizens and that is also stated by Aboriginal leadership. Departments can be turned around but NOPD scares the heck out of me. Just shameful, especially tough for any legit officers there who actually are serving the public good. ","pt":"Aug 27, 2010 00:31"},{"nm":"Mr. Alphabet","rs":"0","ms":"Dear Frontline: Your report while very much appreciated should have concluded that the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) should have been dissolved with everyone in the department being fired and barred from working in law enforcement ever again! Frontline should have also concluded that any &quot;NEW&quot; police department in New Orleans be placed under a Federal Consent Decree so that the agency would have to answer to a federal judge with the power to fire, hire, restructure, punish, sanction, and reward. Most troubling in report was the meager justice or no justice available to plaintiffs. Years of &quot;tort reform&quot; and corruption in our legal system has all but taken away a person\'s right to sue and receive punitive and compensatory damages!  ","pt":"Aug 26, 2010 18:43"},{"nm":"BoJack","rs":"0","ms":"The Frontline story about Law & Disoder was a great piece of work. I\'am born and raised in the City of New Orleans and the police department has been disgraced by some police officers all of my life. But you cannot forget about the many police officers that served the City proudly during Hurricane Katrina. All we see is the bad someone should also show the good side.","pt":"Aug 26, 2010 17:16"},{"nm":"Sammy Wilson","rs":"0","ms":"Our counrty has become more and more of a place where corruption and abuse of power have blinded our ability to make the appropriate decisions with regard to human life and our true purpose here. This story shows what we already know to be true of fact. The question I have is how far does this go, how many people are involved as a whole, and what shall we do to see an end to this behavior by so called &quot;law enforcement&quot;?","pt":"Aug 26, 2010 16:07"},{"nm":"Kispeshul","rs":"0","ms":"Thank you Lord for instilling in all of those in the investigation to do what was right.  I am so thankful that the truth was brought out and those that tried to cover it up were dealt with.  Thank you A. C. Thompson for your tireless effort in digging just a little deeper to bring justice to the Glover family and allowing them to have closure.  ","pt":"Aug 26, 2010 15:34"},{"nm":"Helen Mutford","rs":"0","ms":"Just finished watching Frontline covering Law and Disorder. An upsetting story that needed to see the light of day. The current Chief of Police for NO relocated from Nashville and is under the scrutiny of investigators reviewing crime statistics that may have been falsified during his tenure here in Nashville. Has the NPO not learned anything from the Katrina backlash of shoddy and criminal conduct by those we expect to serve and protect us?","pt":"Aug 26, 2010 14:04"},{"nm":"Shhaz4","rs":"0","ms":"The cable series The Treme has been trying for several episodes to arouse attention to the police misconduct and cover-ups of crimes that occurred at and during the Katrina crisis.","pt":"Aug 24, 2010 19:39"},{"nm":"Stanley L. DeBose","rs":"0","ms":"This is no surprise to anyone who has followed the political situation in New Orleans in past 25 years. It pains me to hear how black people are still protrayed in the media and everywhere else as the victim. I am black and so damm frustrated that we as a people are always a victim. Why did the black leadership, if there is such a group, allow vulnerable poor un-educated black people be subjected and exposed to an enviroment that lent inself to the crimes the police pepturated in the aftermath of Katrina? We as a people must to a better job of protecting honest hardworking law abiding black people. I am so frustrated with the so-called black leadership crying racsism everytime they fail in protecting the people they suppose to repersent. I am not saying their is no racism, everyone knows their is racism in America. However, law abiding black citizens need protection from the many black criminals that is giving our whole race a black eye. Everyone knows criminal activity wiithin the New Orleans police department has been going on for decades. Everyone knows that black on black crime has been going on in New Orleans for decades and no one so-called black leader (mayor, congressman or woman, state rep) or anyone else has stepped up to the plate to address an issue that has been plaguing hardworking law abiding tax paying black citizens in America for decades. Good job Frontline for your story, but we need to do a story of these black politicians that has totally abrogated their office by not go after these black criminals who make life untenable for the decent and law abiding.","pt":"Aug 23, 2010 02:55"},{"nm":"Lori","rs":"0","ms":"Greetings!  In response to Ton\'s comment reference Black men killing each other.  This is totally different & irrelated.  POLICE OFFICERS ARE TO PROTECT & SERVE & TAKE AN OATH.  Any deviation from that is WRONG & CRIMINAL!  They should be made to pay.  I am for POLICE OFFICERS BUT AGAINST POLICE MISCONDUCT!  I, too am a victim of Police Misconduct.","pt":"Aug 21, 2010 17:19"},{"nm":"Redboneweeze","rs":"0","ms":"I truly believe they police are guilty.When the group I was with finally boarded a bus to leave the superdome after the storm the driver made several attempts to get us out of New Orleans.We were turned away at gunpoint,first by law enforcemet from different parishes(on the cars it sid Huron Parish to name one.Ultimetly trying to go through Jefferson Parish our buses were held on a stretch of highway for 5 HOURS at gun point.We were told if we got off the buses we would be shot by the police and sherrif deputies.It was a sin and a shame.All we wantes to be was safe.But apparently being Black or poor in New Orleans meant you weren\'t worth saving.We were disposable.","pt":"Aug 20, 2010 14:35"},{"nm":"Bill","rs":"0","ms":"The only comment I care to make after reading a sampling of the commnents on this story, is simply this:\nEye witness testimony is a valuable asset and photographs are even more helpful in determining what happened and possibly in what sequence they occurred. The single most offensive element I\'ve read is in naming the &quot;color&quot; of the victim and/or perpetrator in any alleged civil disorder. When a person\'s right to exist is challenged, it doesn\'t matter if a victim and/or perpetrator is a black, yellow, white or tan person. A violation can occur from either racial or ethnic source and stating it is only necessary in a court of law for identification purposes, NOT to scandalize a person\'s background in reporting it as if THAT statement validates a reason for alleged acts of violence towards others. \nThe main concern is that when an individual\'s rights were or were not violated, that the full extent of the law (EVEN as applied to law enforcement)must be applied with the equal considerarion to EVERY individual, free of any subtle nuances of race, color or creed. AND, never mind the opiate that only &quot;in a perfect world&quot; can this occur. We, the people are the creators of our world, and must confront that which is not in keeping with the principles we cherish to uphold. ","pt":"Aug 10, 2010 21:58"},{"nm":"Ton","rs":"0","ms":"What about the countless black men murdered by countless black men?","pt":"Jul 31, 2010 16:13"},{"nm":"DOYLE CARTER","rs":"0","ms":"IT WOULD DO THIS NATION GOOD IF FRONY LINE WOULD DO AN INDEPT REPORT ON BLACK WATER DURING THIS TIME.","pt":"Jul 31, 2010 09:05"},{"nm":"pig police","rs":"0","ms":"that police &quot;have a difficult job&quot; in no way excuses them from the CRIMES they commit. just because i\'m poor doesnt excuse me from stealing. just because a cop made a bad decision, doesnt excuse them from the repercussions. we are all responsible for the consequences of our actions, accidental or not. i\'m sick and tired of cop apologists thinking that they are above the law just because they have a badge. cops these days are nothing more than thugs. any cop who disagrees with that only has his fellow officers to blame. I love the pig cops telling people not to &quot;armchair quarterback&quot; well, what exactly do you think a judge does? maybe we should get rid of judges and lawyers and just let the police officers decide right then and there in all their infinite wisdom. sorry buddy, that\'s not how it works. YOU ARE NOT THE LAW. ","pt":"Jul 16, 2010 15:41"},{"nm":"Herb Spencer","rs":"0","ms":"How about a program exploring the &quot;code of silence&quot; among urban blacks, who perpetuate their &quot;communities of violence&quot; by refusing to cooperate with police investigating black-on-black crime?  THAT would be both compelling and innovative, given that stories about police brutality and corruption, however deserved or undeserved, are really rather cliche.  You want to see a &quot;horrific&quot; - whatever happened to plain old &quot;horrible?&quot; - &quot;breakdown of civilization?&quot;  How about a story on Gary, Detroit, Newark, or East St. Louis, where civilization has been reduced to the nano-level now.  Sorry, FL;  you\'ve have to do better if you want to dispel my doubts about the propriety of the federal government - read, taxpayers - funding ANY form of journalism now that Radio Free Europe has succeeded in its job.  And thank you, J Simms, for telling it like it is without running it by the censor. ","pt":"Jun 20, 2010 21:22"},{"nm":"Mike","rs":"0","ms":"Very interesting and informative. Thank you. As active law enforcement, I want to second what J Simms was stating. I encourage all of you to actually examine police work for what it is. Many local departments allow ride-alongs or citizen police academies; sign up. It\'s rather dissapointing to read many comments on here that amount to nothing more than armchair quarterbacking. Police shootings do not have a gray area as Mr. Hessler was stating; they are truly black and white. When you have months down the road to decipher the events, that\'s when the gray area evolves. One poster here states that police are required to be flawless and precise at the exact moment of deadly force, because that\'s what they signed up for and that\'s what they get paid for. That statement is painting with a very broad brush by someone that truly doesn\'t understand police work. It\'s a statement that really takes the humanity out of the situation. No matter how much we train, we are not robots. In the shootouts I\'ve been in, the human factor is always present; making it home to the family, worrying about the civil suits that always follow even if justified, and dealing with the emotions of taking a life. And all this is done in that split second of &quot;flawlessness&quot; and &quot;precision&quot;. Don\'t arm chair quarterback that split second, and keep that in mind when you examine these truly chaotic days after Katrina. Many of these officers were serving proud and honorable, even after their homes and livelihoods were destroyed.","pt":"May 17, 2010 00:38"},{"nm":"not surprised","rs":"0","ms":"the comments i just read don\'t suprise me. one of my concerns is how bourbon street was ready for mardi gras, but the out lying areas look like the storm was still happening. my coworkers went home on the friday before the storm hit, so when we came back we saw the devastation, all we could do was cry. i hurt for the children who are innocent and have no idea what\'s going on.the response time was a joke. how could the federal government send aid to a country in 3 days, if i remember correctly no food or water was provided for all the people in no. i also wondered why there has to be permission of some kind to get anything done.i believe tha the governer and the mayor should have pushed forwardto locate drivers for buses from outlying counlties for help, f#$7 fema. i had been following news accounts, reading the paper etc., anything i could find. is the city government so low on funds that at least the childern can go back to schoolanother dilemma is that some of the people that lost homes did not posess the title on the house, it was passed down to the next relative of the deceased and the there was no documentation on record that the present occupant, no power of attorney, owned that property. and now there isn\'t evem public housing to feed the need of shelter, so where do they go??i watched spike lee\'s documentary, when the levees broke, and cried all the way through, the when bush and his wife had enough nerve to say that the victims were better off in the emergency salvation army facility  living on cots, that they were better off now than before the storm idiots. every time i saw bush\'s face i wanted to vomit. he gets off the plane somewhere other than right in the middle of the disaster area, with that stupid grin. those folks lost a lot of memories, possessions, family and in parting,white folks only show up to asisst if there\'s some profit to be made","pt":"May  5, 2010 01:48"},{"nm":"John","rs":"0","ms":"My father\'s side of the family is from eastern LA, from Monroe to NO, and I spent more time in NO with my grandmother than I ever care to remember.  People unfamiliar with NO have to understand that the NOPD is a corrupt organization, and it has a decades long history of corruption.  There have been multiple investigations over the years of police on the take (in a big way) and other more serious allegations.  I for one hate NO...I love parts of Louisiana and went to college at LSU.  If you want to break the back of the corruption in NO, be prepared to go to war because the powers that be will not change on their own.\n\nIt would be wonderful for Frontline to produce a special for viewing on the subject - maybe it would open the eyes of those unaware of just how bad things are in that town.","pt":"Apr 16, 2010 11:36"},{"nm":"Julie","rs":"0","ms":"I\'ve just finished a good two hours of studying these cases, as an armchair detective.\n\nThe most significant impression in my mind is that these cases took place in different locations, at different times, by different law enforcement bodies, yet all share similarity in someone being shot in the back. The randomness of the former, combined with the similarity in the latter, raise big questions I won\'t go into here.\n\nFurthermore, the deposition given by the detective who investigated the police shooting of Danny Brumfield - that, in New Orleans, the investigation of a police shooting relies primarily on the &quot;questionnaires&quot; or &quot;surveys&quot; of the very persons who committed the shooting, i.e. the officers themselves, AS REGULAR PRACTICE is unconscionable, at the very least. I would not be surprised if this testimony wasn\'t the spark that lit the NOPD investigation on a Federal level.\n\nThank you for the fine work, and continued updates. ","pt":"Apr 12, 2010 22:49"},{"nm":"celeste","rs":"0","ms":"The justice dept. investigation of shootings at algiers point....  seems was a long time coming.  A month after the storm my uncle told me a story about neighbors in algiers point barricading the neighborhood and setting up watches with weapons.  I was told they would shoot any african americans that were seen looting (or in some cases just coming close) then the bodies were dumped in the mississippi river.  I wasnt sure if it was true at all or if any part of the story was true.  I thought it might have been an urban legend that had emerged from the storm.  But one thing about new orleans is that the truth is always worse than the fiction.  Seems the story finally was heard by the right pair of ears","pt":"Apr 12, 2010 09:52"},{"nm":"Anonymous","rs":"0","ms":"It is disheartening to hear the many different stories of pure corruption that took place in New Orleans at the hands of the NOPD during such a tragic time when they were needed the most. Another case that has been in the news but the corruption behind it has either been kept away from or kept quiet by the news media: the case of Jamil Joyner who was wrongfully accused of shooting Officer Kevin Thomas. Jamil Joyner, one who had no criminal record, was an owner of several business prior to Katrina, and according to ALL of his character references from people who know him is a mild mannered, productive young man, was made in court to be a menace to society and was convicted solely on police testimony. The physical evidence presented in court and the testimony of eye witnesses on the scene (including a police officer, Kevin Thomas’ partner) all pointed to Jamil\'s innocence. Yet he was convicted of first degree murder, which means he’s facing up to 50 years in jail. He is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Alacorn on April 16th. He lost everything, including two standing businesses 3 rental properties and his own home plus he has two small children who have been traumatized by this ordeal. Read more about his story at www.jamiljoyner.com.  ","pt":"Apr  5, 2010 06:55"},{"nm":"anonymous","rs":"0","ms":"Not gonna say I was there but they were killed by gunfire and everyone forgot,thats why that memory card is gone...","pt":"Apr  5, 2010 06:26"},{"nm":"Mark","rs":"0","ms":"Who polices the police? In Los Angeles County unarmed men are shot in the back!! The more they do it, the less likely it is that anything bad will happen to the shooters. If Rodney King had been shot instead of just beaten, there would not have been any riots due to the fact that he would not have been able to say what happened. &quot;he was reaching for his waistband&quot;, &quot;he was a known gangmenber&quot;, these are the 2 most common statements that persuade a jury that the shooting was justified. Scary huh, ","pt":"Mar 19, 2010 15:37"},{"nm":"CreoleladyNewOrleans","rs":"0","ms":"Henry Lee was the Sheriff in Jefferson Parish during that time when Katrina hit. he stated that he had nothing to do with his officers blocking the bridge so the New Orleans poor can not come in to his parish. Henry knew about it. The police killed who they wanted to kill and thought they could get away with it. Nothing is more dangerous than a bunch of idiots who have power via a gun.","pt":"Mar 10, 2010 16:14"},{"nm":"Barbara Ann Jackson","rs":"0","ms":"Decades of horrific New Orleans Civil Rights violations by its police, by elected officials and by sitting judges, make it hard not to suspect the motives of the newly launched local FBI probe into NOPD conduct, now that the Hurricane Katrina shooting cover-up has nationwide attention.  There is no doubt in my mind, if the powers-that-be had any idea that the former NOPD supervisor would reveal the hatched covered up shooting of 6 unarmed people, the ex-cop would have been given a deal he could not refuse; or he would be assured that his loved ones would be very uncomfortable or unemployed. By the same token, it is common knowledge that just about anything can be done / can happen to anyone by New Orleans police -and there could be no retribution for unlawful acts, unless /until someone takes a chance and publicly snitches (or some person has nothing else to lose by telling all).\n\nLong before creating the city\'s new Office of \'Inspector\', New Orleans already had numerous so-called other law enforcement means, aside from what is referred to as its police department and local FBI. There\'s the Metropolitan Crime Commission, the City DA, the plethora of (corrupt) civil and federal courts, and the U.S. Attorney\'s office that is run by Mr. Jim Letten. Ironically, when unwary citizens report wrongdoings to those agencies, the only noticeable result is that the wrongdoers become better alerted as to which areas of their crimes require better secrecy. However, the City would not need an added expense of that \'Inspector\' which actually overlaps / duplicates its already-in-place authorities, if those authorities would. . .READ entire article at:\n \<a href=&quot;http://newsblaze.com/story/20100306185232lawg.nb/topstory.html&quot;\>http://newsblaze.com/story/20100306185232lawg.nb/topstory.html\<\/a\> \n","pt":"Mar  7, 2010 05:07"},{"nm":"Paul  Harris","rs":"0","ms":"Back in 1986 when I was a Calif. Probation Officer a fellow officer and I were visiting the French Quarter.  We clearly observed two NOLA Police Officers tell three men (two white, one black) to get up against a wall.  They immediately complied.  The cops took out their batons and began wailing on the three men.  As soon as I could I reported the incident to the current Mayor Barthelemy, the Police Chief, and the Times Picayune newspaper.  The only one who responded was the Chief saying they had no record of any cops in that area at that time.   I find it hard to believe having been to New Orleans 10 times that there were no cops in the area on a weekend night as one always sees many of them in the Quarter.  Regardless of that it was clear police brutality and most likely some kind of cover up.  Several years later 60 Minutes ran a segment on one of the most corrupt PDs in the U.S.  It was of course New Orleans.  \n\nIn many law enforcement agencies there is a code of silence.  If someone ratted out someone else they would definitely pay for it one way or another.\n\nIn 2005 I was again a tourist in New Orleans, only this time I was trapped in the Superdome during Katrina.  We believed all the rumors of rapes and murders and helicopter shootings but they turned out to be almost entirely false.  Fear is a powerful emotion and while I suspect that the NOLA Police might have been suspicious of some roving citizens, one is still innocent till proven guilty.  Too many others who were on the streets saw that the vast majority of citizens were either trying to assist one another or were far too concerned with their own or their family\'s survival.  \n\nThere will always be a few rotten apples, whether it\'s citizens or cops, but we can\'t protect these ruthless barbarians or our society will break down.   With the latest admission of a cover up of two murders, the Justice Dept. and FBI MUST fully re-investigate all of these suspicious cases or they will have failed America.\n\nPaul Harris\nAuthor, &quot;Diary From the Dome, Reflections on Fear and Privilege During Katrina&quot;  ","pt":"Mar  6, 2010 05:29"},{"nm":"Bruce","rs":"0","ms":"Consider that things are not always clear. The police were told the people were armed. If you don\'t know a person is armed, and wait to be shot at, then it can be too late. I\'m not justifying what happened. Only stating it\'s easy to condemn in hindsight. Also interesting that officers who make the wrong judgment call in the inverse of this situation are rarely or never mentioned. That is to say, an officer who assumes a person is not armed and is then killed by the suspect. \n\nAlso I\'m black (well, half black from my mom and white from my dad), and I do not have a great fear of police. I have much more fear of heart trouble, traffic accidents, or danger from my fellow citizen. And Yellowbird, there is just as much evidence that 50% of white grandmothers are pathological liars as there are that 50% of police are mentally disturbed. \n\nPersonally, I\'d like to know if police could begin employing less lethal alternatives to metal bullets (without endangering themselves).","pt":"Mar  2, 2010 12:58"},{"nm":"Bruce","rs":"0","ms":"J. Simms, it\'s a lost cause. \n\nPersonally, I think the test for criminal charges against a police officer should NOT be &quot;Was it justified in hindsight?&quot; Too many people here literally argue for such a test. They read the shocking case on Frontline of an &quot;unarmed&quot; person being shot. Failing of course to consider the officers do not instantly know a person to be armed or unarmed. In fact, in this case, they had been given information contrary to reality (they were told the suspects were armed and dangerous when they were in fact not). Obviously, in hindsight such a shooting is unjustifiable. They therefore want the book thrown at the officer - no leniency. But consider the point of view of the officers. In the heat of the moment you interpret an innocuous action as a threat.  \n\nThe &quot;suspects&quot; in turn display exactly the same attitude most of the respondents here are displaying. They are pissed off these cops are heckling them. They know *they* are innocent and they see no need to show so much respect to a few asshole officers who are high on authority. They give these officers a piece of their mind and yell at them. They continue walking, with their hands likely in a position which to the officer seems on the verge of pulling out a gun. Note: I am not saying the victim is guilty of a crime or deserving in any way of a punishment (let alone being killed). I\'m merely pointing out that both parties here are human beings in an especially stressful and ambiguous situation. Certainly what happened here was not justified. But if the officers involved want to maximize &quot;fairness&quot; they could (incorrectly) feel justified in covering up what happened. Why? All the factors I\'ve named above. \n\nInteresting the press displays much less or hardly any interest in police officers who make the wrong choice the other way. That is to say, officers which have information which falsely leads them to believe a person is not dangerous when they are. Guns are a tricky thing. Let\'s say you are not sure whether the suspect is armed or not, but have been told that he is. If you wait to be shot at (confirming he is armed), that first bullet very well may kill you. That is one hell of a motivation to shoot first. \n\nAs an aside: Contrary to the claims of &quot;ethnic cleansing,&quot; white people were actually over-represented as a percent of deaths following Katrina. So if the police (many of whom are black!) were in fact hunting black people, then they did a poor job. \n\n\<a href=&quot;http://wizbangblog.com/content/2005/12/12/race-played-rol.php&quot;\>http://wizbangblog.com/content/2005/12/12/race-played-rol.php\<\/a\>\n\nYellowbird, please listen to me. If you are being serious, the media has really given you a perverse view of the police. There\'s no reason to live in such fear. But if you are going to live in fear, you should be afraid of a traffic accident, not a pullover. The former is much more likely. In the event you are pulled over, police in almost all jurisdictions have dashboard cameras, so a pullover is the last situation in which a cop will be abusive. Your immobility makes no difference, as the officer will not ask you to step out, instead they walk to your window. If you like, you can lower your window and put your hands outside of it (but this is really not needed). I tend to think you a troll however, given your fallacious claim that 50% of officers are mentally disturbed. There\'s just as much evidence that 50% of old white grandmothers are pathological liars. \n\nBy the way, I\'m black (well actually 50/50, white dad, black mom), but I do not fear our police. I have a lot more fear of a traffic accident, heart trouble or mugging and attack by a fellow civilian then a police officer. ","pt":"Mar  2, 2010 12:43"},{"nm":"Yellowbird","rs":"0","ms":"Many won\'t believe it but these degenerate felonious murderous cops are representative of about 50% of today\'s police and armed forces.  I fear them more than respect them anymore.  My worst fear while driving the freeway?  What if a cop pulled me over and screamed at me forcing me to the ground, where I can not only not get down, but I can\'t get up.  I am severely arthritic, but can still walk and sit.  My condition is not readily apparent.  I fear a cop will hurt me more than I fear a mugger.  Nice country we live in.\n\nMy profile?  Middle class white grandma.\n","pt":"Mar  1, 2010 00:05"},{"nm":"J Simms","rs":"0","ms":"In response I felt compelled to point out that I am in no way taking any position regarding the Frontline New Orleans story. I also felt compelled to defend my position; I write in defense of law enforcement, while the situation in New York has certainly improved in recent years (NYC frequently experienced well over 1,000 murders/year in decades past) - we (posters) obviously do not reside in the same city/region. I am a retired law enforcement officer (major U.S. city) and with the bad press law enforcement is constantly subjected to I felt the need to defend - and point out that the public can often be &quot;blissfully unaware&quot; of what goes on our streets - and as a married man with a family - to describe a gun battle as anything but chaotic would be dishonest; it isn\'t something easily articulated to someone who has never experienced being shot at, or hit with a car, fighting to gain control of a firearm. And as for my dire warnings about our society; while I certainly appreciate your opinion - I affirm that &quot;only in America&quot; could we have 30,896 gun deaths in 2006 and maintain that &quot;everythings\' just fine thank you&quot; attitude. (we also boast over 200,000 annual gun-related injuries). As for the Baghdad analogy; most recent year statistics were available; Baghdad\'s violent death rate 48 per 100,000 (population 6 million, New Orleans (a US city); 62 per 100,000. (http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1894566,00.html)\n\nIt\'s not so much that I\'m a pessimist I just think we should expect better.  ","pt":"Feb 28, 2010 07:48"},{"nm":"EricCBaxter","rs":"0","ms":"The police of Natchitoches, La. similarly covered up the sustained the criminal abuse and consequent homicide of my late elderly and disabled father at about the same time as the Danziger Bridge incident. The cover-up was undertaken and maintained primarily to protect an attorney who had defrauded him of his savings and secondarily to avoid responsibility for the department\'s failure to protect him during two-and-one-half years of urgent warning.\n\nThe essential difference between my father\'s example and the Danziger case is the whimsical interest of the press.\n\nsee: \<a href=&quot;http://bellsouthpwp.net/b/a/baxterericweb/draft/Police_Dove.pdf&quot;\>http://bellsouthpwp.net/b/a/baxterericweb/draft/Police_Dove.pdf\<\/a\>","pt":"Feb 27, 2010 21:43"},{"nm":"just greg","rs":"0","ms":"I arrived in NOLA a few weeks after the storm to help run a small emergency clinic and ended up doing legal relief work for the first 6 months of my time there. The primary reason being, there were just so many complaints from folks who had situations with NOPD, Blackwater and the many agents including ICE, from around the nation who descended on the city in the aftermath of Katrina. My first day in the city was met by a heavily armed officer in civies driving an NOPD squad car who made it clear in no uncertain terms that &quot;outsiders were not welcome&quot; and that my team and me should leave the city immediately. In my first week, while working on the West Bank in Algiers, I was delivering supplies with another volunteer when we were surrounded by 12 officers in a mix of civies, city fatigues and khaki fatigues from ICE, NOPD, Jefferson Parrish and even a couple whose badges hailed form Denver Parks Services, who proceeded to grill us for 15 minutes on our purpose and affiliation. No problem there, we were legit, had our organizational ID and individual ID and the ability to contact someone to check in on our situation so it worked out. Not so lucky were the literally hundreds of people being detained in Angola South at the Greyhound station downtown. Folks were telling us tales of being picked up from their porches, walking through town and even having cops who knew them prior knock on their doors and haul them away. This was before the &quot;Look and Leave&quot; program was in place, so folks were being told there was martial law and other lies, and that just being in the city could constitute a crime. I and a couple of friends decided to go over to Angola South and start interviewing folks being released about their experiences. The tales told were consistent from person to person, arrest for some non arrestable offense or for nothing at all, taken to AS, threatened with a trip to Hunts in Baton Rouge where they would wait in that facility until arraignment, or pay fines averaging $600 and work the rest off cleaning the Orleans Parish Prison. All this relayed to them by the one public defender representing the group of the day. A pattern of abuse also began to emerge. Detainees were made to sleep outside in wire cages often without blankets and with only the cold portions of MRE’s to eat. Detainees who were deemed problems were summarily punished, no questions asked, no warnings. The methods of punishment varied, some spoke of being punched by guards, or being shot by “bean bag” pellets, one individual had the foresight to smuggle the bag he was shot with out of the detention center and I was able to take photos of the bag and his bruises.  Other individuals stated having food and water withheld.  In the period of my first 6 months in NOLA, I personally witnessed police abuse and harassment and made it a policy to carry a camera for the purpose of filming such incidences. I also witnessed incidences of cruelty to animals, specifically on 2 separate occasions while walking on the West Bank levee, I saw NOPD and the National Guard firing at small packs of dogs killing several before they scattered.  Some say this was necessary, but the ASPCA folk around the city trying to rescue these same “pack dogs” disagreed. I stayed in NOLA for 4 years post storms, and in those 4 years, I was arrested several times while filming police abuse, each time my case was dismissed. I was fortunate, but the many people who died or were injured and abused in by NOPD, Blackwater and the myriad other agencies around the city were not. There are hundreds perhaps even a couple thousand stories to be told about police abuse post Katrina and Rita if some intrepid investigative reporters were willing to dig deeper and ask the right questions, perhaps we might see that the current scandal only scratches the surface, and that agents of the law operated with impunity in the vacuum of New Orleans and even handed control over to vigilantes, in one notable instance on the West Bank in Algiers point, who took that defacto power and used it to fulfill their racist mandate to kill black men they deemed “looters” or “lootes” as one crudely drawn sign states, “LOOTES SHOT ON SIGHT”!","pt":"Feb 27, 2010 10:41"},{"nm":"Lee Light ","rs":"0","ms":"I also have a healthy fear of what our local law enforcement exceptions-to-the-rule can get away with. Most of our officers and detectives are great assets to the communities in which they work. Too many, though, are defectives, and are on the job to get sick kicks which they justify by mentally stripping citizens of their humanity, rendering them all &quot;suspects&quot;, &quot;mooks&quot;, or worse. Once again, kooks prove to be the greatest threat to our way of life. Think about it. Everyone else simply wants to get ahead, and enjoy some time off with the kids, the fella, the wife.","pt":"Feb 26, 2010 03:44"},{"nm":"Lee Light","rs":"0","ms":"J Simms, you\'ve an awful lot of words there. I can only say to you right now that you have a warped idea of life in these United States, and on this nation\'s streets. There is no war, are no occupied and terrifying enclaves of lawless maniacs, a la post-apocalypse fantasies; there is only a patchwork of communities, the residents of which get up every day to make homes, families and futures. Just like your own (!)town/village/city (though I doubt you\'ve been in a city proper--residential nabe, that is--in quite a while). Stop believing what you see on CSI as representative of most of real life, and come to NYC. I\'ll take you on a VeloTours bike route; show ya around, provided you don\'t turn out be a kook. Kooks, now them I worry about...","pt":"Feb 26, 2010 03:33"},{"nm":"Susan","rs":"0","ms":"Although I posted earlier, I must respond to Mr. Simms comment. I\'m not sure where he lives, but it is certainly in a United States I have yet to visit. Baghdad?? Murder, a &quot;slip up?&quot; &quot;Crime infested&quot; streets? I have lived in the inner city (in a major city) for the past three years and have yet to witness any crime in my neighborhood more serious than shoplifting, and go weeks at a time without witnessing any crimes at all. \nShould I ever put myself in a position of armed public service, I had better be, would demand of myself to be, &quot;flawless&quot; and &quot;precise&quot; any and every time I choose to point a firearm at another human being. Police officers are actually expected to confront/chase criminals. In fact, it is exactly the job they signed up for.  To call it an &quot;unrealistic challenge&quot; is to have a highly inaccurate and thickly veiled vision of what police officers are paid to do.\nI\'m not sure what &quot;nightmare&quot; you\'re convinced &quot;we all&quot; created. For my part, I lead an unspectacularly crimeless life; for your part, whatever it may be in the creation of your nightmare, why not simply cease your perpetration? Your comment has an overall sort of notion that the police are faced with wild inhuman marauders not just daily but hourly, and that the murder of one of them now and again is only to be expected. The fact is that much of what an officer does daily is nonviolent and routine.  Portraying them as panicky and overwhelmed and very likely to &quot;slip up&quot; and murder another human being is to do them a great disservice.  Our officers know what they have committed themselves to and are well trained to handle the situations they encounter-- even the unusual, violent and frightening ones.  It is precisely why we are so outraged at the murder of innocent people; we expect better.","pt":"Feb 25, 2010 22:51"},{"nm":"JoeJoe","rs":"0","ms":"&quot;United States military sometimes kills innocents in a combat zone&quot;\n\nYeah, well these cops arent the military and NO was an American city going through a natural disaster not a war zone. These COPS ARE GUILTY OF MURDER! NO EXCUSES AND NO MERCY TO THEM!","pt":"Feb 25, 2010 14:00"},{"nm":"J Simms","rs":"0","ms":"In the coming weeks there will likely be unprecedented media coverage and public speculation about this police department. As I think back to police incidents that have gained widespread media coverage in the past couple of years; two that immediately come to mind are the Professor Henry L. Gates incident and an incident in which Philadelphia police officers are video taped extricating a suspect from a vehicle then hitting him repeatedly. The officers involved in both incidents were immediately met with public suspicion, finger-pointing, and of course speculation by a public that quite frankly is never asked nor expected to take on the kind of responsibility that these officers handle every day of the year. In the first incident (Prof. Henry Gates), officers respond to a plausible call of burglary, once on scene the first responding officer simply requests that Gates identify himself - Gates refuses, becomes irate, and accuses the officer of being a racist. My understanding of the second incident, a uniformed patrol unit of the Philadelphia police department witnessed a murder (or attempted murder - shooting) at a street corner, the officers observed the suspect flee in a vehicle - the video, shot from a news helicopter captures the officers extricating the suspect from the vehicle - a suspect whom the officers had moments earlier witnessed commiting a homicide. I ask of the general public; how would you approach this suspect? If tomorrow it was your responsibility, your burden to apprehend the murderers on our streets - how would you go about it? Would it be &quot;pretty&quot;; politically correct, non violent....clean and precise? \n\nThese incidents in New Orleans, right or wrong, just or unjust - will force upon the nation the stark reality that there is a growing divide between the public and the reality of America\'s crime infested streets. The public, long in denial, will have to come to grips with the fact that the situation confronting law enforcement every day more closely resembles current ground conditions in Baghdad Iraq than they may be comfortable acknowledging and it appears to be getting messier by the day. \n\nThe circumstances in New Orleans are unfortunate for all involved. A free and liberal society is a gift, a blessing - but we must come to terms with the fact that there are those who will take advantage of every aspect of that free society. We have a nation FLOODED with firearms - cigarettes are literally more tightly controlled than firearms in this country; yet we place unrealistic, even absurd demands on our law enforcement officers in dealing with the nightmare we have all created. We expect our officers to perform a ballet amid chaos, gunfire, disorder; we expect a flawless precise performance everytime, and when you slip up - we will spend days or weeks scrutinizing your split-second decisions that we haven\'t the guts for, we will subject you to criminal charges and unforgiving civil suits for your momentary inaccuracy.      \n\nIn a nation that perpetuates its own epidemic crime; we cannot continue to blame law enforcement everytime we catch a glimpse of an opportunistic video, everytime we present police officers with unrealistic challenges and unrealistic expectations. At some point, sometime - this nation and everyone in it is going to have to accept some personal and social responsibility.         ","pt":"Feb 25, 2010 06:08"},{"nm":"Susan Wood","rs":"0","ms":"There is not nearly enough exposure about this & other shooting events perpetrated by the NOPD in the aftermath of Katrina.  I came upon the article inadvertently while searching a different Frontline issue; while I am unsurprised, I had no idea that anyone had uncovered any such incidents in New Orleans at that time!  One of the comments indicates that 81 shootings occurred?? There is enough shame (rightfully) put upon our government in its maltreatment of the Katrina disaster, nevertheless, these shootings need to be tirelessly examined and the results of that examination made known to the public.  I may have been safe and sound in the Midwest while my fellow citizens suffered horribly during and after Katrina, but it should be as important to each of us as if it had happened in our very backyards.  Ethically, it was.  I hope there is no easing up on the investigation of Mr. Brumfield\'s murder, or on any other.","pt":"Feb 24, 2010 13:40"},{"nm":"Jeff","rs":"0","ms":"This is atypical of the way the police operate,militia mentality,brute force and ignorance,\nand strangely enough these police are proud of this ","pt":"Feb 23, 2010 07:32"},{"nm":"Michael Parker","rs":"0","ms":"I was outraged when I first heard about this 5yrs ago. I\'m still outgaged that our local & federal governments allowed this to happen. However, I\'m glad to see that your organization is exposing this crime on humans who did nothing but tried to flee a disaster, only to be met whith a barrel of a gun by the very people who suppose to been helping and protecting them. Shame on those people involved and shame on America. I hope those involve with this crime are exposed further, and put behind bars where they belong.","pt":"Feb 21, 2010 13:15"},{"nm":"john warren","rs":"0","ms":"Frontline is one of the least biased news organizations out there.  I applaud their efforts to uncover what actually happened during Katrina and it\'s aftermath.  As it happens, the NRA agrees with Frontline that the police and military response to Katrina was one that unnecessarily violated rights.  They went so far as to make their own documentary exposing the gross misconduct by law enforcement after Katrina.","pt":"Feb 20, 2010 11:37"},{"nm":"Scott Yamanashi","rs":"0","ms":"Thank you for helping expose some of the many atrocities our government and police have committed during this breakdown in civilization.  Hundreds of peoples\' homes were invaded through assault without warrants and their defensive firearms confiscated.  One of my friends ESCAPED the Superdome after 2 days of horror, only to be chased by police through water at night.  Luckily, he made it out swatting people off of his Jeep, and was not shot by police.  A television episode would do greater good to remember the victims and reeducate all that the Constitution should never be ignored in disaster situations. ","pt":"Feb 17, 2010 07:21"},{"nm":"Alice MacDonald","rs":"0","ms":"The element of the story I\'m not clear on, and which I find really disturbing, is this: Were people allowed to cross that bridge to leave New Orleans? In the U.S., we are told we have &quot;freedom&quot; - yet did these people not even have the freedom to use their own two feet - the only resources most of them had - to walk away from a life-threatening disaster to a non-flooded area? Were they being shot at for trying to leave New Orleans? I sincerely hope I\'m reading that wrong, because if that\'s the case the thought of it just leaves me cold.","pt":"Feb 16, 2010 20:32"},{"nm":"Steve","rs":"0","ms":"The AR-15 uses very small rifle bullets.  They are .223 (about the size of a .22 LR cartridge).  They don\'t get much smaller.  They move very fast and at close range, would probably leave a very tiny hole. ","pt":"Feb 14, 2010 02:19"},{"nm":"Alan Johnson","rs":"0","ms":"I watch enough of  your video to see that this will be another biased Frontline program.  In actuality there were fewer homicides during Katrina than in a normal week.  What you should be looking into is how the city and state government failed.  Why the mayor was on Oprah telling the world that children were being raped in the streets, (which was untrue) instead doing his job.  We read in the media that the Super Dome was filled with lawless people sexually assaulting women.  Turns out that NO PD sex crime unit was at the Dome and arrested the only rapists.  There are villains, they were at city hall and the state house where they refused to ask the federal government for help (something required by the constitution).\n\nFrontline and Fox New have in common that neither are fair and balanced. ","pt":"Jan 29, 2010 15:46"},{"nm":"Anonymous","rs":"0","ms":"My wife and I stayed on the west bank, across the river from New Orleans during Katrina\nand during the aftermath. My daughter, who lived uptown, fled to Corpus Cristi, but left\nher cats at home. She wanted me to rescue them, but the bridge was closed. No way would\nI have ventured into the city. I really doubt if all this came as a surprise to anyone,\nas a matter of fact, things happened just as I always thought they would.","pt":"Jan  6, 2010 21:51"},{"nm":"Todd Walker","rs":"0","ms":"I don\'t have any information to offer, but I do want to commend the producers of this project for their extremely innovative, compelling, and important use of the interactive possibilities of the online medium in their approach to this subject. I find it very effective. The next step, I would imagine, would be to spread the word about this project into the affected communities. I would hope that FRONTLINE is pursuing some kind of outreach via community organizations, clergy, etc. Excellent work so far. ","pt":"Dec 29, 2009 12:52"},{"nm":"Christopher Smith","rs":"0","ms":"Mr. Hartman and Mr. Bankston stated, by Frontlines account, that they do not remember the incident.  Mr. Bankston was even shown the photo, and he does not remember.  I find it hard for individuals to forget an event that involves an individual that is deceased.  Even more so when those at the scene are police officers.  It is the job of a police officer to remember what transpired upon arrival at the scene, and a report is filed to provide an account of what happened, evidence if the incident proceeds to trial, and accountability.  Granted there were many homicides after hurricane Katrina, but with all of my reasoning find it hard to believe that 1) two officers do not remember the incident, 2) Mr. Clogher being ordered away from the scene, #) and no investigative report into the incident.  It is my aspiration to be a lawyer one day, and I know that if two plus two does not add up to four, than there must be a valid problem that needs to be investigated.","pt":"Dec 27, 2009 01:37"},{"nm":"Anonymous","rs":"0","ms":"I was in the city throughout Katrina and the aftermath. The New Orleans Police Department did the best they could in total and complete anarchy with zero communications ability and having lost their own homes. No one seems to want to report on how during the night several police stations were absolutely under attack by roving bands of gang bangers.\n\nRemember, the United States military sometimes kills innocents in a combat zone and they have the absolute best technologies and support assisting them.","pt":"Dec 15, 2009 05:58"},{"nm":"Eric Likness","rs":"0","ms":"As I recall there were also some roving bands of private contracted \'security personnel\' dispatched to New Orleans in the days after Katrina. Jeremy Scahill reported in the Nation: \<a href=&quot;http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051010/scahill&quot;\>http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051010/scahill\<\/a\>\n\nThat guy with the shotgun could be a member of Blackwater (now Xe Services) but who knows. At the time the security personnel were in unmarked vehicles with no outward identifying badges indicating who they were, who they were with.","pt":"Dec 14, 2009 13:12"},{"nm":"Anonymous","rs":"0","ms":"You are just scraping the surface.\n The Fema morgue collected bodies after Katrina, there were 81 gunshot victims collected in New Orleans during the aftermath of Katrina. ","pt":"Dec 13, 2009 19:44"}]}); });