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Chief Riley, I think ye protesteth too loudly and from the only soapbox that will still allow your footprints to darken its door, WBOK.

“There's a revolution going on, and we are missing it,” he (Chief Warren Riley) said.

We're not missing it, Chief. The citizens of the city are creating it!

If and when you and Nagin decide to come out of your bunny holes and look around, you'll see that this city has decided it will no longer stand for corruption, lack of ethics, lack of integrity and scamming of the citizens. We really don't care whether you are black, white, brown, orange, green or rainbow. We're looking at performance first. And your performance has been abysmal!

I take great offense at your comments, Sir. You sound as though the citizens of the city are stupid, being led by the nose by others toward a political future we don't want. We have learned. We have begun to think for ourselves. We know what we want – and you and Nagin represent the absolute antithesis of it.

Most of the citizens of this city are sick and tired of everything from where a grocery is placed to the naming of a street to how city departments are run revolving around race. And we have been spending more time showing it and less time listening to those who have made race a way of life.

Even more importantly, we have realized it will take creativity and knowledge – not drama and glitz – to turn this city around. Many have tried to advise you and the mayor. Both of you have turned your back on advice (for instance the Brown report) and moved forward with your own tired agendas. With what results? None! We have a city that is mired in the molasses of corruption and a police department filled with hard-working well-meaning officers who appear to be counting the days until your departure. What a legacy for you and Nagin to leave behind!

Why don't you take your fight off the airwaves and face the true critics of your leadership, the people or more importantly, your own employees? You haven't faced the public at any point as the city rides the roller coaster of daily crime. My guess is the foot soldiers of your department, the patrol units, rarely see your face. And when they do, I would assume they are told how to act and what to say (and not say) or risk termination.

The days of grandiose and bloated comments such as you chose to let loose on WBOK are over. You carry no weight. Had those same comments been made in a public city hall forum you would have been shouted down. You chose your venue well, albeit still with an agenda. You chose the most conservatively racist radio station this side of the Mississippi to air your unproven comments. You chose a venue that daily utilizes gutter thug commentary to keep their listeners separate from the mainstream. That alone speaks volumes.

So you think you have had the “ultimate challenge”? Chief Riley, that is yet to come for the citizens of this city. The ultimate challenge is going to be to remove the fingerprints of your administration from our police ranks so our city can intelligently, equitably and reliably fight crime in this city.

I wish you would have joined politics. Then you would have had to face the public and we could have asked you some of the hard questions about why your lackluster leadership qualities should be valued. I would have loved to hear your answers. And what you spouted on WBOK, those were not answers, Sir. Those were words thrown out by a man who knows he's barely keeping his chin above the waves.

I'll just keep making sure those waves slosh higher as we approach May if you don't mind. I'm part of that revolution.

It really doesn't take much to go from happy and fully challenged in a great career to unemployed and concerned about keeping a roof over your head.

Last night, as the temps dipped, I listened to the scanner and heard units 6522 and 6525 rounding up homeless by the van-load and transporting them to missions and shelters. God be with those guys! Unfortunately, each time I heard them head for a shelter with a group, I prayed I wouldn't be in that number any time in the near future.

On December 9, I was laid off. Due to a needed business reorganization caused by the economy and shifting markets in my employer's industry, head count was reduced. I was in the reduction. Sure, I got a severance package, but it won't last long with a mortgage, tax bill due, homeowner's and flood insurance payments coming up, utilities, medical bills (and the cost of Cobra), food, etc. Sure, I can downsize, but most credible landlords want employed tenants.

I am a learning and development strategist and developer. My career has spanned over 15 years in adult learning, instructional design, facilitation, learning program management, learning strategy, needs analysis and organizational effectiveness. For the last six years, I was privileged to have “the dream job” – I worked from home for a large global professional services firm managing national initiatives. That ride ended on December 9. It was rather daunting to discover that all of that and a weekly phone call with get me $284 per week in unemployment. And if you accept even a menial job it is deducted from your unemployment unless it is paid “under the table”. (My integrity and ethics make me shudder at that phrase.)

The niche that my career fits into is not routinely available in New Orleans. This city does not support the corporate structures and home offices that utilize learning and people development professionals. Hence, I'm facing leaving my beloved city to find employment. My job hunt is nationwide. That's a whole different set of stress factors – selling my home without knowing where I'm going being the biggest one. (I keep envisioning signing the closing papers, with my car packed with what it will hold and my 4 pets, and sleeping in rest stops on America's interstates as I drive from city to city seeking employment.)

How many of our city's homeless started out like me, gainfully employed and viewed as a productive citizen? We probably don't even have an accurate count of the true homeless. I would bet there are scads of others out there who, in really inclement weather, can still prevail on a friend or relative for a sofa or floor space to sleep indoors, but who can't permanently move-in. So in good weather they wander.

Or how many in our city are moving daily from sofa to sofa, friend to friend because they're still searching for work, have given up searching, or are employed in a job that doesn't pay enough to meet bills like rent?

Sure, I have savings. Look at your budget and figure out how long your savings will last (even on Ramen noodles, no cable, no luxuries of any kind). I even have separate retirement savings. But hey – I'm 57 – if I run through all of that now and find a lower paying job for the next nine to 12 years, I'm going to have a pretty dire retirement if I live long enough. I don't live a high-falutin' lifestyle. My car is paid for (a 2004 Hyundai); I don't buy clothes; I don't have electronic gadgets like Wii's or X-boxes; my furniture came primarily from Rooms To Go in bits and pieces.

For those of you who say that those on the streets are our mentally ill, incapable of caring for themselves, think before you say that. Were they always that way? Let me tell you – face months of unemployment with the standard bills of an employed lifestyle and you quickly also face depression, anxiety and panic attacks, anti-social behavior, exclusion from activities (which leads to deeper depression and more anxiety) and eventually what many would term “mental illness”.

So – anyone who is currently employed, do whatever you have to to stay that way. For anyone else in my situation, I hear ya, buddy. For anyone who can employ anyone like me – CONTACT ME.

And when you see a homeless person, or hear 6522 and 6525 mercifully pulling them out of the weather, dig down inside and consider what it would take for you to be in their shoes. With very few exceptions, I'd say not much.

We have NORAD planes flying through the skies over New Orleans in exercises meant to keep our country safe from terrorists.

But we have no one within the city that can step up and protect us from terrorists and extortionists appointed and hired into essential city positions.

Yesterday , Chief Public Defender Derwyn Bunton  announced that as a result of the City Council’s refusal to renew an appropriation, the public defender’s office would stop accepting murder and rape cases.

This announcement is tantamount to terrorism and extortion. The Public Defender office defends many kinds of cases. If there is a need to reduce the workload due to reduced funding, then the logical decision should be to stop accepting cases where the public is not placed in direct jeopardy if the offender is released due to lack of representation.

However, Mr. Bunton chooses to hold the citizens of the city hostage until he gets his way with cash. I hope he and his family have a safe room in their dwelling. If he goes through with this decision, we should all create “panic rooms”. A rampant criminal population has just been given license to maintain and even escalate their heinous behavior because chances are they won’t even reach the courtroom.

Maybe we should hold Mr. Bunton hostage. Work with your department to find a less dangerous solution to your funding problem or face immediate termination with loss of any retirement benefits and face possible prosecution for extortion.

What makes this even more like salt to a wound is that Mayor Nagin had just stated that the “citizens would suffer” if the council did not act appropriately on his budget proposal. How closely is Mr. Bunton associated with Mr. Nagin? I don’t want to start any rumors, but could Mr. Bunton have been coached by the Mayor in the tactics to use? After all, Nagin himself used the same tactics to get the garbage contracts ratified.

May I suggest that the public defender office stop representing repeat drunk drivers? Let them either find the money for an attorney or be required to place an expensive piece of machinery in their vehicle to monitor their alcohol level in order to be released due to lack of representation.

May I suggest that the public defender office stop representing first time drug offenders? Let the city institute an automatic 100 hours of community service for any first time drug offender in lieu of a trial. Even if they are innocent of the charges, it won’t hurt them to serve some community service time in a city sorely in need of it.

May I suggest the public defender office stop representing deadbeat dads who don’t pay child support? Statistics show that even after being ordered by a court to pay back support, most do not. Why waste our public defender’s time representing a defendant who has no intention of abiding by a court decision?

May I suggest that those who work in the public defender’s office search their consciences and decide if they can actually work for a department that will allow the most heinous criminals to be released over a funding dispute? If the answer is a resounding yes, then they should be the next ones looking for defense counsel for aiding and abetting a criminal.

There is one huge frustration for patrol units that we have not touched on and it has nothing to do with police administration or criminals. It has to do with those who place calls to 911 or the police directly.

If you are going to place a call to the police, have the decency to leave your name and number. If the operator doesn’t ask for it, insist that they take it down.  Even just a first name helps narrow the field when police are searching for a location or an incident. It doesn’t mean they are going to come find you in particular, although in many cases it would further their investigation if they could.

When you initially call give as much information on the situation as possible: exact location, what is happening (fight, robbery in progress, suspicious person and what they’re doing, drug sale ongoing and how), race, sex and age of anyone involved, how many are involved, whether weapons have been seen, clothing description even if it’s only color blurs, distinctive clothing (hats, logos, etc), colors of vehicles and makes and models if you can tell or size of vehicle (SUV, small, 4-door sedan, etc), license plates or partial license plates if available, landmarks and surroundings (next to the abandoned grocery, across from the school, behind the iron fence, etc), direction those involved fled (toward Japonica, ran across Robert E Lee toward the lake, etc), whether they fled on foot or in a vehicle.  

If you are afraid of retaliation because of being seen talking to police, ask the operator to place in the comments that you will only speak by phone and give a valid, working phone number. They will honor that but it at least gives them a way to gather more information or verify information.

If, due to high priority call volume, it is taking an inordinate amount of time for police to respond and you have to leave the location you gave to the operator, please call back and inform them of that. Tell them when you will return or tell them you will call back at a later time for service. Don’t place other citizens in a hazardous position because a patrol unit is tied up responding to your location when you won’t even be there any longer.

If you are in a life or death emergency and dial 911, try to keep the phone close to you and leave the line open. Operators do indicate in the comments that are given to patrol units what they hear in the background on open-line 911 calls: struggle heard in the background; person calling for help; person heard threatening someone else. It helps the police prioritize the call. The patrol units know there are 911 calls, and then there are 911 calls. Some are the result of misdials, children playing on the phone or pranks. But others are the result of someone who had just enough time to hit the digits and throw the phone down. If your phone has a speakerphone feature, hit 911 then that feature. It helps the responding units know what they are walking into.

If you have called the police because of a situation that is dangerous or frightening and can stay on the phone, ask the operator to stay on the line with you until units respond. Keep talking with the operator, giving updates to the situation if possible. Those updates are relayed to units as they respond. Again, it tells the police what they are responding to and how to respond so that there is a better chance for a good outcome.  

If you are calling from a cell phone, even if you only have moments, give as exact a location as you can. Cell phones do NOT triangulate to provide police your position. They are not linked in the 911 system to any location. Start the call with your location in case you lose coverage or the system drops the call: 2100 block of Canal Street heading toward the cemeteries, I’ve had my purse snatched.

Once you have called the police, watch for them to arrive. When the units drive slowly through the area, step out and flag them down, or if you’re still on the phone with the operator and afraid to step into the open, say you see the units and give further instructions on how to find you or describe specifically what they should be looking for.

Police response is only as good as the information they have to work with. If you listen to the scanners, you hear their frustration when a call is dispatched that is obviously a dangerous or hazardous situation for someone and dispatch adds “No complainant, no callback”. They know that they only have one, very quick shot at giving a good response.

Police units respond daily to calls of suspicious persons, possible crimes in progress, gunfire, cars driving erratically or dangerously and can do nothing more than drive through the area because they don’t have enough information to truly search or investigate, and no way to get further information.  

If you want good police service, give them good information. Don’t place them at an immediate disadvantage by giving them limited information. You are their eyes and ears until they reach a scene, and you can be the difference between a good outcome and a bad one.

Yesterday, the criminal justice system took its shot at pleading with the City Council to maintain its levels of funding. A system that is flawed asking for money without providing ways to remove the flaws. The bedrock of the fight against crime whining for its money while not offering ways to improve itself. I would be very selective in providing funding.

A good for instance is the criminal district court. Not only do they want their full 2009 allotment, but they are asking for $150,00 additional for jury expenses and $376,000 to pay for “mental health court”. Judge Julian Parker pointed out that the “criminal element isn’t going to downsize”. No, Judge Parker, they’re not. Hence your job security. How about policing yourselves? There are some dockets that are run very efficiently. There are others on the other hand that serve as drive-bys for justice, or worse yet, logjams. The Mental Health court would be a great idea if New Orleans had the mental health resources to put some bite into the services mandated. But we’re not even keeping our heads above water serving those who voluntarily commit themselves or apply for rehabilitation.

When a defendant doesn’t show in court, judges need to use the full strength of the law to make examples of them. Rescind bond. Don’t renew it when they are hauled into court because they were picked up on a fugitive warrant! They’ve proven they’re unworthy of bond. And WORK with the electronic monitoring system. Demand that as a judge you're notified at the first instance of an infraction, then ACT! Immediately request an arrest warrant, notify law enforcement of your action and then throw the book at the criminal when they are picked up! Stop coddling the criminals!

Cannizzaro isn’t asking for more money, just the same money. It’s true that his department seems to have stepped up the efficiency level several notches, but there’s still room for improvement. The public defenders, while I admit they are overworked, need some good training in time management so that they appear in court when they should. If you read the court dockets, it’s evident that many continuances are caused by public defenders who request them due to not being prepared, or just don’t show on time in the courtroom. And often they have no clue where their client is since they haven't been able to contact them for pre-trial meetings. What about letting someone know about that before the court date?

As for Gusman, clean your house out! Central Lockup is a huge time-waster for police, and the criminal element knows how to play it. A trip to CLU with a prisoner can take up to four hours for a patrol unit. Often there is a long line of prisoners waiting for processing because they are being processed ONE AT A TIME. A criminal who knows the system waits until processing is underway then suddenly feigns an illness, injury, addictive response that allows the ill-trained prison personnel to reject them, causing the patrol unit to then take a trip to University Hospital with the criminal only to be told nothing is wrong with them. And it’s back for another two to four hour wait at CLU. Police your processes, Gusman, then we might give you some money. We won't even discuss recent escapes. They only prove the point that your processes are in dire need of analysis.

Gusman, like Riley and the Brown Report, says he has corrected issues brought up in a U.S. Department of Justice report but offers no specific proof. Again, Gusman needs to provide some proof of accountability and efforts at process improvement to justify budget consideration.

Yesterday’s group was the backbone of the crime issue. We talk about the revolving door and expect it. Let’s stop expecting it. Take the time to comment to your council person as well as the council representatives at large on what you expect from the criminal justice system. Ask them to find a way to fund with accountability checks. Give them some reasons to look closer at where the money goes, reasonable reasons not opinions.

This is the year that the money can talk. We have a shortage of it. Those who get it really need to up their game to justify getting it. We have the right to request accountability before delivering the cash. And let’s hope the council uses its powers to investigate and monitor spending once the money is budgeted. Just as we all have to stretch our bucks, the criminal justice system not only needs to stretch what it gets, but prove there’s a return on the money spent.

Let’s talk a little bit about the cowards in this area who think having a gun gives them license to “send a message”, celebrate in a different way, play out the OK Corral scene to solve their problems or find enjoyment and entertainment in the chaos gunshots cause.

Cowards such as these cost a 7 year-old her life last night. This child was doing nothing more heinous than sleeping, in her own living room.

A child. Lost in the dreams of childhood that abound with ponies and puppies, blue skies and bicycles. A child. Innocently sprawled in the sleep positions that only a child can find.

I really don’t care what criminal activity had gone on previously around the child. The fact remains that a COWARD took that child’s future.

Nightly, dispatchers on all scanners – NOPD, JPSO and KPD – send cars out on calls of gunshots in different areas. If it was a night like last night, those dispatches occur almost every three to five minutes – all night. Any of those dispatched calls has the potential to be the initial call on a tragedy that a COWARD who thinks a mechanical device solves problems has caused.

Despite the absence of any mention in the local news, Orleans Parish alone last night had at least one homicide by shooting, two separate aggravated assaults by shooting, a carjacking that also involved an aggravated assault by shooting of the victim, several aggravated assaults by cutting or stabbing and too many calls of gunfire to even count.

Some say this behavior is grounded in education. Some say it’s grounded in poverty. Some say it’s the offshoot of generations of poor parenting. Some say it’s a result of years of violence in the media and its glorification.

No matter what the actual cause, the result is a world of cowardly, unthinking, inhuman elements whose only claim to bravado is a piece of steel loaded with smaller pieces of lead.

The best education in the world will never reach those who believe that bravery is directly related to the caliber of your piece. Erasing poverty will only result in the cowards seeking out bigger, more and ever more powerful weapons. Parenting might cut into it, but peer pressure will still overcome good parenting in a percentage. And removing violence from the media will only create a fantasy world of pure bliss that people will turn away from because it doesn’t even closely resemble reality.

It’s going to take giant strides in all of those areas, at the same time, by massive numbers of cities, people, governments and churches. Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening. I don’t even see a willingness to have that happen.

NOLA in particular and the world in general would rather drink their morning coffee and lament the lives lost to violence. They want the details so they can lambast both the victim and the victim’s lifestyle and point to that as a cause.

Well, folks – what can you point to that this 7 year-old did prior to her death that brought this on? She was born – no choice of parents, no choice of environment. She was sleeping, innocently preparing for another day of the activities a 7 year-old finds to fill a day. No number of police officers can prevent a coward from brandishing the only bravery or pride they can hold onto – a weapon.

Two years ago I started Human Decency FIRST as the result of the homicide of a 2 year-old at the hands of his own father. Despite attempt after attempt to get citizens involved, the most I got was a few souls who said they were willing to help but had busy lifestyles that kept them from fully committing. The organization sits in hiatus while I continue to find a way to get the citizens of this city to understand that we cannot depend on the police, the city council, the Mayor, the churches, the schools or even the parents to find all of the answers. Even if they brought answers forward, it would take the citizen’s buy-in to get any of it to work.

But this city is more focused on the road to the Superbowl. The death of a child is a speed-bump in that road that will be forgotten in the wake of a Saints win. The movement toward action will never occur – it’s someone else’s turn to do something is the general thinking pattern.

When was your last turn? When did you last really take a look at your lifestyle, how you role model, who you associate with, how you conduct business, what you want out of life, what you are most proud of, what legacy you will leave?

Guess what, citizens? You have nothing on the COWARD who fired the deadly shot last night. Your cowardly side shows just as blatantly and in the long run is just as deadly. I live in a beautiful city that says it is filled with civic pride. But I really live in a world of cowards, too self-centered to even get incensed about an innocent death.  

So the City Council’s budget hearings are not off to the best start. The first round, scheduled for today, has been postponed until Monday with a new schedule due out tomorrow. It will be available on the City Council website.

Even with this inauspicious start though, the discussions may signal a new openness to be embraced by the citizens and council members alike: instead of budget “presentations”, the council has scheduled panel discussions with the emphasis on discussion. City departments will all appear and indicate their budget needs and justifications, in full view of the public, in the council chambers.

Here is a golden opportunity! Whether or not the public chooses (or is allowed) to dispute or discuss the information provided in the panel discussions, citizens can take notes and then communicate directly with the City Council regarding their thoughts. The meetings are broadcast both through the council website and the cable government channel.

As Councilwoman Midura has suggested, it’s time for the citizens to step up and indicate which programs and services they feel are needed, and which ones they honestly feel can be cut or done away with.

Anything is better than Nagin’s solution, which is again a bow to the convenient rather than the studied and/or logical.

Nagin states the 2010 budget faces a $68 million shortfall. To combat this, Nagin proposes a 10 percent across the board cut in city department budgets. Great solution. Let’s toss out the good with the bad. It would have taken a lot more work, and probably caused some friendships to fall by the wayside, to actually study each department’s budget, revenue, cost efficiency and spending.

Nagin also proposes saving $10.3 million by freezing increases in the city’s contribution to employee’s pension funds. Again, great solution, Nagin. Your golden parachute is in place, at least until the Feds catch up to you, so you’ll deflate everyone else’s. Nagin is even proposing chopping the feet from under those not yet retired or facing retirement: he says the city can gain $8.6 million in savings by having employees pay higher fees for health insurance and utilizing a health insurance plan that carries higher deductibles. A double whammy. And to help city employees realize just how far they’ll have to cut their personal budgets, he’s proposing closing city hall 12 days a year. That’s 12 days less pay per hourly employee. Probably doesn’t affect those in place through his carefully thought-out insertion of payback hiring since those people are most likely salaried.

Basically, most city employees would take a hit, either directly or indirectly, totally $5300 for the year. Nagin’s “budget reform” counts on $23.5 million of his cost cutting coming at the expense of employees. Not a good deal when everyone knows Nagin won’t take a cut, Riley won’t take a cut and big-mouth blowhard Blakely’s already run to the bank with the money.

There are four somewhat positive elements to Nagin’s proposal:

• An estimated $5 million realized through selling blighted tax-deficient property (although one wonders why this wasn’t done a lot sooner)
• An estimated $3.2 million realized by collecting sanitation fees from residents not currently paying fees (where are they putting their garbage?)
• An estimated $1.6 million realized by ticketing parked cars without valid inspection stickers (the meter maid force should love this one)
• Adjusting fees charged by Safety & Permits, including nearly 3 dozen not changed in more than 50 years (which raises the question whether they are valid fees any longer)

Regardless of budget hearings, Nagin’s proposal or anything else the fact still remains: this city needs accountability it its city government and it starts with the budgets. Can the City Council and the Mayor ever understand this and put processes in place to force it into existence? As long as departments are allowed to spend to the limit of their budget or overspend, with no oversight, we will face a budget shortfall. The greedy will take what the greedy can get, unless someone not just slaps their hands, but cuts them off.

I’m no statistician. Not by a long shot. But I have ears and I listen daily to the NOPD scanners. I am not hearing a reduction in crime. I’ll admit, I don’t think I’m hearing an increase. But it’s certainly not going down, and most certainly not in the categories Riley claims.

His statistics say that, for instance, burglaries and auto thefts decreased 21 and 31 percent respectively. If that’s true, I have no idea why crime lab rolls on those two types of crimes several times a day, on a conservative day. Geez, Riley! Just today we had at least two armed robberies and a home invasion! Where do those fit in your statistics?

And assaults are down? I guess he’s not counting all of those assaults that come out on the scanner daily. Go hang around University and Tulane Hospitals and see how many are rolled in as a result of being knocked on the head with some object. Or cut. Or shot.

And if, as it states in the nola.com story, a 21 is a “non-criminal complaint”, why are there so many units heading for Central Lockup with the signal as a 21? Non-criminal to me would mean no one gets arrested and no one goes to jail.

I’m not sure what Riley feels he is accomplishing by touting statistics that have little basis in reality. Does he think the tourists will feel better when the patrol unit tells them they’re only the 15^th theft of the day and send their friends to visit? Does he think some more of those non-resident residents from Katrina’s evacuation will see lowered crime as a good reason to suddenly move back? Does he think he’s making people living here feel safer when they hear the reality from neighbors and friends who have been victims? Who do you think they believe?

Armed robbery dropped? Tell that to Conseco’s Grocery on Elysian Fields. Assaults dropped? Tell that to the man shot in the chest while doing nothing more criminal than driving on I-10E.

Riley’s officers are 1000 percent braver than he is. They daily face the streets of this city, chasing criminals on foot and in patrol units held together by rubber bands. All he does is take a sheet of paper with numbers so unreal that they border on ludicrous, hand it to the media, repeat the same statements we’ve heard for several years and then crawl back into his shell. Or worse yet, waste taxpayer money by posing as a law enforcement professional on some political junket.

When a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound if no one is there to hear it? Of course! Every animal around there runs from the explosive noise!

If something happens in the city of a criminal nature and the NOPD never alerts the public, does it really happen? Of course it does!

Unfortunately, the NOPD seems to have the theory that the tree makes no sound, and the incident didn’t happen if they just keep quiet.

In order for NOPD to provide a Public Information Officer on the scene of a crime, news media have to show up. If no media shows at the scene, the information is rarely if ever written up as a news release for the media to decide whether or not it is newsworthy material. And there is little if any follow-up news provided to the media even when initial information is provided.

Some people may not think this is a big thing, or at least nothing to get worked up about. I beg to differ since this policy could jeopardize lives. Let’s say for instance that the Dow chemical spill had occurred within Orleans Parish. Now, Dow isn’t going to advertise it, so they won’t be inviting the media in. They’re only obligated by law to inform the EPA and law enforcement as far as I can tell. The EPA won’t take responsibility for disseminating that information to the public. So that leaves law enforcement, which in Orleans Parish is NOPD.

So the NOPD follows their policy of “no media, no news release”. Unless media are following the scanners closely, they don’t know to show up. Meanwhile, people are beginning to feel ill – dizzy, having trouble breathing – and there’s a rash of EMS calls. Probably more than EMS can handle in the unfortunate state they are in. People begin to arrive at hospitals and ER doctors are trying to figure out what’s going on.

Meanwhile, if no one is monitoring the ProjectNola scanners, no one hears all the scanner chatter about this, and no news is sent to the public, even via Facebook. No one knows that if their medical condition is chronically fragile, they should leave the area. Hospitals are delayed in giving the appropriate treatment because they are unaware of the situation.

Not good! But it could happen! Easily!

Now let’s take today’s situation. At least one prisoner walked away from an Orleans Parish Prison detail. Those on the scanners heard confusion on how many, where, who was apprehended, etc. News media picked up the confusion. WWL reported a single escapee, captured on the Xavier campus. WDSU reported a single escapee captured on the Xavier campus. Nola.com originally reported several escapees with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office helicopter joining the search. There was totally conflicting informaton on several fronts, probably because NOPD didn't issue any kind of news and everyone was left to their own sources.

I would think that citizens who live in the city would like to know if there are prison escapees wandering around. Two others escaped recently and there is no news on whether they are still at large!

What are the PIO officers for NOPD being paid to do? If it’s just to appear at events and wave, I propose that that’s actually a part-time job and they look elsewhere for the bulk of their income. If they are supposed to keep the public informed on criminal events that may affect their quality of life, I propose that they be fired because they aren’t doing their job. And if their job is to maintain Riley’s fantasy of lower crime and to be his mouthpiece, then I suppose they’ll be getting a raise soon because they’re experts on that front.

WHEN (I refuse to say if) the NOPD shakeup occurs in the new administration, policies within the PIO area need to be changed along with everything else. The public has a right to know when things happen. Granted, the PIO will be releasing information to the media who can then choose to publicize or not. But I would like to think the media will feed the citizens what the citizens ask for. And if the citizens ask for information, I think they’ll get it, WHEN the PIO gets new policies.

I can understand wanting to document best practices. I can even understand traveling to discover best practices. I cannot, however, understand traveling to CUBA to do so!

When you look for best practices, you look at industries, areas, cities and populations that are approximately the same as yours. About the only thing Cuba has in common with New Orleans is humidity.

Of course the Cuban government gets everything it wants done, when it wants it done. It’s called the fear factor. Of course the Cuban government can account for every one of its population quickly. Check with them – they can account for their population every minute of every day because of their surveillance methods.

Cuba, for Nagin and Riley’s benefit, is a dictatorship. This is defined as a country or government in which absolute power is exercised by a dictator who has absolute, imperious and overbearing power and control.

As much as Nagin and Riley would like to think they run dictatorships in this city, THEY DO NOT. The citizens still have a say in what goes on, and rights that must be respected.

And once again Nagin and his flunky have thrown those rights in our faces. We have the right to retain what funds we can against the shortfall that Nagin and his flunkies created for the next budget year. But no one knew about this junket, hence no one could stop them. Now, Nagin and troops are sitting back, smoking their Havana stogies and rocking with self-satisfied laughter.

This is modus operandi for Nagin these days. Sneak it through. Not nearly as exciting nor legal as a quarterback sneak.

I still say someone needs to find a valid reason to confiscate that man’s passport. We’re going to need him in this country for prosecution when all of his hijinks are uncovered. Granted it may not happen until well after he  leaves office (hence stop him from leaving the country for the next say 10 years), but it will happen.

Nagin has run the city into the ground, almost seemingly on purpose. I no longer think it’s been done through negligence, nor stupidity. It seems to be out of pure spite and ego. See what I can do!

Well, Nagin – you wait until you see what WE and the law can do. Even if you are never prosecuted, I’m convinced we can find a way to make at least the next five years of your life at the least uncomfortable, at the best hell on earth.

And Riley – don’t think you’ll escape unscathed. The lack of equipment, structure, motivation, processes and leadership in the police department was not necessarily created during your administration. But you have exacerbated the problems, to the utmost, through your denial and jaundiced view of crime in this city. You have placed both citizens and your own officers in danger and it won’t be forgotten.

Countdowns are usually exciting. The only thing exciting about the countdown to the end of Nagin and Riley is that this city may begin to recover, again, from a major disaster – that of incorrigible leadership.