THE LOOTER KATRINA TV

'We can commandeer whatever we see fit, whatever is necessary to maintain law.'Įventually, stories appeared that discredited almost all of the more extreme reports of anarchy in New Orleans. 'This is for the sick,' an Officer Jeff Jacob was quoted as saying.

THE LOOTER KATRINA TV

For example, on August 31 the Canadian TV network CTV reported an interview with two New Orleans police officers who were standing guard as employees of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel filled laundry bins with snack foods, medicines, and bottled water taken from a drugstore. 2, 2005 read, ''The Looters, They're Like Cockroaches'.' Reports did appear, though relatively rarely, noting that some of the 'looting' was driven by necessity. Widespread use of the term 'looting' to describe people taking items that they needed for survival as well as those seizing luxuries or weapons helped foster a distorted nationwide impression of total civil breakdown in New Orleans during the flood period: a USA Today headline for Sep. Although the persons in this photograph are denoted 'looters' by the Associated Press, there is no way to tell from the photo exactly what they are taking or why. Media coverage of the social aftermath of Katrina is in some ways typified by this picture. PRIMARY SOURCE LOOTERS MAKE OFF WITH MERCHANDISE A New Orleans SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) police team commander was quoted in the New York Times for Septemas saying that 'murders were occurring' and that persons who had taken refuge in the city's Convention Center were being terrorized 'every night' by 'armed groups of men' and rape gangs.

The words 'looting and violence' were often used together. Reports of snipers firing at rescue helicopters and ambulances, rampant murder, rape gangs, and the like appeared on numerous TV network news programs, including those of CNN, Fox, and ABC. 'Rape and Anarchy in New Orleans,' read the cover story of the New York Post for Septem'Despair and Lawlessness Grip New Orleans,' read the front-page banner headline of the New York Times for the same day. Reports of chaotic violence in New Orleans were widespread in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. There was also opportunistic theft of jewelry, alcohol, and weapons. Aid from Federal and State sources did not reach the city for days, and some residents took what they needed from stores, including such items as food, dry socks and shoes, disposable diapers, and bot-tled water. About eighty percent of the city was flooded, some in water several stories deep, some in water only a few feet or inches deep. As engineers had often warned could happen, the hurricane's storm surge (rise in water level caused by high winds and low barometric pressure) breached several levees keeping the salty waters of Lake Pontchartrain out of the city. An official order had already been given to evacuate the city, but this was not possible for thousands of residents, especially those too poor to own cars. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina, a Category three storm, made landfall not far to the east of New Orleans. This photograph was taken on a street in the city of New Orleans. and several Latin American nations in August, 2005. You might have fewer problems with a family that climbed through a broken window and into the shoe store to put new pairs on each of their children after flooding washed away their belongings.About the Photographer: This photograph was taken by the Associated Press photographer Eric Gay soon after Hurricane Katrina struck the U.S.

You could hold less animosity for the people in a state of panic who stole groceries and other provisions out of survival fears. Every officer that was reassigned to handle looters and other lawlessness was an officer that couldn’t be out there looking for the elderly, disabled and injured. It speaks loudly to the impact crime can have after a disaster. (Vladimir Korostyshevskiy / ) Looters and Disaster ResponseĪ few days after the landfall of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, most of the officers in the New Orleans Police Department were pulled off of rescue operations in an effort to pull the city back from the criminal element, especially looters.

This storefront shows the man-made disaster in New York City following Superstorm Sandy in 2012. Looting is a common side effect of nearly every major disaster.

The looter katrina