National Guard Troops Arrive in Big Easy

06/20/2006

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - In a scene reminiscent of the darkest days following Hurricane Katrina, a convoy of 100 armed National Guard military police troops rolled into the city Tuesday to patrol the streets following a surge in violent crime.

Patrols by about 100 Guard members in the city’s hurricane-devastated and largely deserted neighborhoods will free as many as 300 police officers to concentrate on crime in more heavily populated areas, officials said.

“We’re just trying to give a hand to the city of New Orleans,” said guard Lt. Melvin Edwards, 32, a civilian juvenile probation officer in Baton Rouge.

Edwards, a member of the 239th Military Police Co., said he was called up about 5:30 p.m. Monday, within hours of Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s announcement that troops would be sent to the city.


The guard members were carrying M-16s and handguns and were dressed in full camouflage fatigues with armbands identifying them as military police.

As they arrived at the city’s Convention Center in a convoy of about 75 Humvees and other military vehicles, they drew waves and thumbs-up signals from pedestrians and motorists.

Mayor Ray Nagin had called for the National Guard and state police on Monday, saying “we’ve had enough” after five teenagers were gunned down together Saturday and a man was stabbed to death Sunday. It was in the city’s deadliest attack in at least 11 years and police said it was apparently motivated by drugs or revenge.

“The situation is urgent,” Blanco said. “Things like this should never happen, and I am going to do all I can to stop it.”

It was a return to familiar ground for the 239th, which patrolled New Orleans and other parts of the state for six months after hurricanes Katrina and Rita last year.


“If you think about it, this is still part of Katrina,” said Capt. Alfred Travis, the company commander. “We’re in the disaster phase and I think we may be in the disaster phase for a while, until the neighborhoods are built up again.”

In addition to the 100 National Guard MPs, 60 state police officers are expected to be sent to the city, Blanco’s office said. It is the first time soldiers were used for law enforcement in the U.S. since the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Altogether, up to 300 guard members are expected to be stationed in the city.

New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren J. Riley said Monday he had asked in March to have troops sent in this summer, when the population is expected to jump because FEMA assistance to displaced hurricane refugees ends June 30.

Riley insisted his department is capable of controlling crime, and said the request for troops wasn’t driven by the weekend crime spree.

“This is not a situation where anything is out of control,” Riley said.

The National Guard’s mission did not require a special order because Louisiana is still under a state of emergency 10 months after Katrina. Blanco said reinforcements would cycle in and out of the city.

“I’m just delighted,” said King Milling, a New Orleans banker. “The powers that be recognize that this is an issue that we must deal with.”

The weekend killings brought this year’s murder toll to 53, raising fears that violence was back on the rise in a city that was plagued by violent crime before Katrina drove out half the city’s population of 465,000.