NOPD BOSS CLAIMS CRIME HAS NOT 'TAKEN OVER' N.O.

The halcyon months after Hurricane Katrina when peace ruled the
streets of New Orleans officially ended in June when police allege
19-year-old Michael Anderson gunned down five teenagers in Central City.

After the incident, Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco dispatched the
National Guard and state troopers to New Orleans to patrol the city's
largely uninhabited neighborhoods in the Ninth Ward and eastern New
Orleans. The move freed police to concentrate on high-crime zones but
the bloodletting continues.

In late July, Raymond Amison, 18, and Kevin Amison, 21, were charged
with gunning down three brothers and a friend in Treme. Through last
Monday, 150 people had been murdered in New Orleans in 2006.

National media accounts portrayed New Orleans as a prisoner of
ruthless gangbangers as it once again became the nation's murder
capital per capita.

New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley denies criminals have
taken control. He points out 2006 is only the third time in the past
30 years when fewer than 200 murders were committed in New Orleans.

"I don't think crime is out of control by any means," Riley said. "I
think we have a very good handle on it. We're not the Wild West and
there are cities that wished they only had 150 murders."

University of New Orleans criminologist Peter Scharf said the number
of murders are lower than in previous years but the statistics are
alarming enough given the decreased population.

According to the Louisiana Recovery Authority, New Orleans'
population hovers near 200,000 with a murder rate of 75 per 100,000,
higher than Compton, Calif., which topped the list of most dangerous
cities in 2005 with a murder rate of 67 per 100,000.

In 2004, when the New Orleans population was 467,000, there were 265
murders for a rate of 53 per 100,000.

"I think we fooled ourselves into thinking the hurricane could
eradicate crime," Scharf said. "We wanted it to be true more than it
ever was. (But these criminals are) an underclass that won't quit, an
illiterate, violent underclass, a culture of kids who see murder as
an interesting business strategy."

Riley disputes the population estimates and points to a study by
Covington-based GCR & Associates Inc. that puts the population at
235,000. Add 50,000 migrant laborers and the tens of thousands of
people working in the city by day and leaving at night and the
population exceeds 300,000, Riley said. His count would produce a
murder rate of 54 per 100,000.

"If we have a city of 187,000 people then we have a problem, but I
assure (you) there are more than 200,000 people in this city right
now," Riley said.

All sides agree the NOPD needs more manpower and equipment to combat
a more brutal and brazen criminal element bent on seizing control of
the wide-open drug trade.

"I don't know what the mental state is, but they're willing to die
and more than willing to shoot at the police," Riley said. "They're
willing to go to jail for foolishness. Bottom line, they are more
willing to be violent than they were in the past."

The NOPD has 1,416 officers, down 15 percent from 1,668 pre-Katrina.
The NOPD's working strength is 1,259 with 157 officers injured or on
sick leave.

Riley hopes to exceed 1,600 by the end of 2007 but said finding
housing remains a problem as does the budget, which dropped 22
percent from $124 million in 2005 to $96 million in 2006. More than
90 percent of the budget has gone toward salaries, which forced the
NOPD to cut back on essential training and basic equipment.

The shortage comes at a particularly dangerous time when an
unprecedented amount of drugs are coursing through the city.

Ten months into fiscal 2006 -- Oct. 1 through Sept. 30 -- the Drug
Enforcement Agency had confiscated 1,122 kilos of cocaine in New
Orleans compared with 583 kilos for all of fiscal 2005 -- a 92
percent increase. The amount of confiscated marijuana jumped 406
percent from 476 pounds in 2005 to 2,407 pounds in 2006.

The upsurge is a result of New Orleans dealers making new drug
connections in Houston, a major pipeline for Mexican and Colombian
narcotics cartels, after evacuating to Texas after the storm.

Upon returning to New Orleans, dealers found their old territory in
the Ninth Ward devastated and abandoned, forcing them to wage war for
control of remaining drug hotbeds such as Central City.

But Riley said tourists should have little fear visiting the city.

"If you're coming to New Orleans as a tourist and you're a good
quality person and you're going to be in the French Quarter or CBD or
Magazine Street, you're absolutely going to be fine," he said.

"If you're not involved in drugs or violence and you're not going
into areas where we have high crime, you'll be safe and have a great
time. For the most part our high-quality citizens aren't the victims of crime."