Projectnola.com

It is uncanny the way our administration thinks.

New Orleans is a war zone. The blistering heat, rather than driving evil elements indoors to embellish past stories of crimes, has brought them out in droves with the most heinous of motives. The result has been a spate of murders, shootings, stabbings and robberies.

And where is our Police Superintendant? He is in Australia, speaking (as the keynote speaker) at a disaster conference.

EARTH TO RILEY!! THE DISASTER IS IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD!

First off, the man has no knowledge of responding to disasters. At least not in an appreciably successful manner. Second, I’m pretty sure this trip to Australia wasn’t planned by the Australian people but rather by a bicycle-riding hack and ne’er do well who feasted on our city for two years. It’s a pay-back of some sort to someone and has no place in Riley’s duty to New Orleans.

Management styles differ. There are some managers who micro-manage, and they are usually dreaded. Others are laissez-faire, hands-off. This works if you have processes and success measurements in place to let those working for you know when things are going well.

Riley is the ultimate laissez-faire manager. He is so hands-off that he is out of touch with those who are under him and those who are his customers, the citizens of the city. His processes are flawed and his success measures even more so. To even have allowed his name to be mentioned in the same sentence with “next mayor” while fighting with the District Attorney, the City Council and unsuccessfully turning the tide on crime was and is an egotistical mistake.

Depending on whose numbers you pay heed to, the city is somewhere between 108 and 140 homicides so far. The highest number comes from the coroner who includes vehicular homicide in his count. We are not only on pace to once again top the list of most dangerous, but to outdistance any cities bringing up the rear.

Visibility helps stem the tide of the “convenience” crimes – pickpockets, thefts, some armed robberies, residential burglaries, car theft. But it doesn’t stop a murderer.

To stop a murderer you have to remove motive, opportunity and method. Riley has no chance to remove motive. The motives will have to be removed over generations, with innovative methods of fighting poverty, education, job opportunities, parenting and culture.

But Riley had a chance to begin to remove opportunity and method. If a murderer is already in jail or prison, the opportunity to commit a further crime is gone. The District Attorney offered a plan to take those with a propensity for violent crimes from the streets by rounding up closed case perpetrators. Riley dismissed the idea. Granted, the department faces a manpower shortage, but his replacement plan of extending work hours doesn’t remove opportunity or method from a murderer’s hands.

As for method, the police daily respond to calls of suspicious persons with guns on the streets. Each day they succeed in removing several and in recovering illegal weapons. Unfortunately, there is little else they can do short of massive round-ups which would be disastrous in the political climate of this city.

Perhaps the biggest contributor to homicide in our city is the lack of concern and urgency on the part of the NOPD leadership. There is no indication that they care beyond whether or not they can limit the statistical recording of violent crimes. They have no visible concern for the human toll these crimes take. There are no statements about concern for victims and their families. They refuse to address the mounting frustration and terror in the general citizenry. They hunker down in their office bunkers and react to media reports with unjustifiable or incomplete comments. There is no proactive behavior on their part.

Superintendant Riley – you accepted a position. The position is in the city of New Orleans. It is a position that has as its customer base every citizen, businessman and visitor to the area. Either live up to the position you took and step out of your comfort zone, or move aside so that new blood with a true concern for those affected by crime can step in and at least begin to quell this mounting warfare that is growing in our streets.

Take a look in the mirror tomorrow morning, sir, and ask yourself whether you may not be the biggest partner crime has in this city.