Katrina - Five Years Later

After Katrina, New Orleans cops told they could shoot looters

10:46 AM on 08/25/2010

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Evidence of an order circulated among New Orleans police authorizing officers to shoot looters after Hurricane Katrina has been discovered by a joint investigation by Sabrina Shankman and Tom Jennings of Frontline, Brendan McCarthy and Laura Maggi of The Times-Picayune and A.C. Thompson of ProPublica.

Present and former members of the New Orleans Police Department differ in their accounts of the order. Some officers who heard it say they refused to carry it out. Others say they understood it as a fundamental change in the standards on deadly force, which allow police to fire only to protect themselves or others from what appears to be an imminent physical threat.

The accounts of orders to "shoot looters," "take back the city" or "do what you have to do" are fragmentary. It remains unclear who originated them or whether they were heard by any of the officers involved in shooting 11 civilians in the days after Katrina. Thus far, no officers implicated in shootings have used the order as an explanation for their actions. Only one of the people shot by police -- Henry Glover -- was allegedly stealing goods at the time he was shot.

Police Captain Harry Mendoza, and his lieutenant, Mike Cahn III, told federal prosecutors last month that they were ordered by Warren Riley, then the department's second-in-command, to "take the city back and shoot looters.'' Mendoza quotes Riley as saying: "If you can sleep with it, do it."

The Frontline report, "Law & Disorder", will be broadcast on-air and online by local PBS stations, starting tonight.

Read the full article at The New Orleans Times-Picayune.

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From "The New Orleans Times-Picayune:":http://www.nola.com Evidence of an order circulated among New Orleans police authorizing officers to shoot looters after "Hurricane Katrina":http://www.thegrio.com/specials/katrina---five-years-later/ has been discovered by a joint investigation by Sabrina Shankman and Tom Jennings of "Frontline,":http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/law-disorder/ Brendan McCarthy and Laura Maggi of The Times-Picayune and A.C. Thompson of ProPublica. Present and former members of the New Orleans Police Department differ in their accounts of the order. Some officers who heard it say they refused to carry it out. Others say they understood it as a fundamental change in the "standards on deadly force,":http://www.thegrio.com/news/former-new-orleans-cop-pleads-guilty-to-bridge-shooting-and-cover-up.php which allow police to fire only to protect themselves or others from what appears to be an imminent physical threat. The accounts of orders to "shoot looters," "take back the city" or "do what you have to do" are fragmentary. It remains unclear who originated them or whether they were heard by any of the officers "involved in shooting 11 civilians":http://www.thegrio.com/video/cops-could-face-death-in-post-katrina-shootings.php in the days after Katrina. Thus far, no officers implicated in shootings have used the order as an "explanation for their actions.":http://www.thegrio.com/news/3-officers-plead-not-guilty-in-katrina-shootings.php Only one of the people "shot by police":http://www.thegrio.com/news/former-katrina-officer-brought-to-justice-may-face-prison-time.php -- Henry Glover -- was allegedly stealing goods at the time he was shot. Police Captain Harry Mendoza, and his lieutenant, Mike Cahn III, told federal prosecutors last month that they were ordered by Warren Riley, then the department's second-in-command, to "take the city back and shoot looters.'' Mendoza quotes Riley as saying: "If you can sleep with it, do it." The Frontline report, "Law & Disorder", will be broadcast on-air and online by local PBS stations, starting tonight. "**Read the full article at The New Orleans Times-Picayune.**":http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/08/new_orleans_cops_say_they_got.html