Courtesy Photo | New Orleans police officer Marchant Paxton rides along with Soldiers of the...... read more read more
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Spec. Benjamin Cossel 196th MPAD
NEW ORLEANS -- They're charged with keeping order and offering help to those in need. But, the police officers of New Orleans are also victims of Hurricane Katrina.
"I don't know," said four-year force veteran Officer Robert Faulcon. "It still hasn't hit meâ?¦everything that has happened here and what we've been through since the end of the storm...it still hasn't hit me. I guess maybe it will at some point, but right now we've got a job to doâ?¦I don't really have too much time think about."
Trying to maintain law and order in a city ravaged by Hurricane Katrina is proving a challenging task. Making that task even more difficult, many of the officers with the New Orleans Police Department have no squad cars to patrol their beats, headquarters buildings are still underwater, and for many of the officers, everything they owned was lost in the storm.
Helping to bring law and order back to this city, Officers of the New Orleans Police Department are riding along with Scouts from Headquarters Company, 1st of the 148th Infantry Regiment, Ohio Army National Guard.
Police Lt. Brad Tollefson, deputy commander, NOPD, Gentilly Region was driving down the road in a commandeered mail truck when he noticed Soldiers of the 1st of the 148th Inf. Reg. at their camp.
"I just saw them and figured I should get in there and see if they could help us," said Tollefson.
Without hesitation, Battalion Commander Lt. Col. Gordon Ellis told his staff and commanders that supporting the local police would be one of the battalion's top priorities.
"It is important that a sense of normalcy is returned to our area," Ellis said during a regular update brief Sept 9. "It's important for the people here to see the police, to know that they are out there and that the looters and criminals will be dealt with."
With many jails flooded, a temporary facility was made to handle those taken into custody.
Ellis went on to stress that the job of his Soldiers was not to enforce law, only to assist law enforcement officials.
"We are not here to arrest citizens. That is not our job," said Ellis. "But we can help those whose job it is to keep the streets and neighborhoods safe."
At the time of the meeting, many members of the police department were still on a mandatory five-day rest and recovery pass.
"We had to let our personnel take the time to make sure their families were ok," said Tollefson. "To try and get to their houses and see if anything could be salvaged, to just take a break from the amazing effort they all put in immediately after Katrina hit us."
The first integrated patrol began Sept. 11 and immediately made an impact.
"Since we've been back out here making our presence known," said Officer Heather Gore, "we've seen a reduction in the looting and arson that was going on in our sector."
Staff Sgt. Edward Frye, a Scout, 19D, from Cleveland, Ohio with HHC, 1st of the 148th Inf. Reg. was the Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge during a recent patrol.
"It's amazing to see these officers out here, doing their job," he said. "Knowing that so many of them lost everything."
As the patrol slowly rolls through streets only recently dried enough for passage, the team of four officers and four Soldiers assess the damage.
Faulcon and Officer Marchant Paxton were trapped inside a hotel for three days before finally being rescued.
"I wasn't scared but I got to tell you, as that water started coming up and the days passed on, I was starting to get a bit concerned if someone was going to come find us."
Surviving the worst natural disaster the United States has ever seen, Faulcon is just happy that he made it and he's glad, with the assistance of the Ohio Army National Guard, he is able to get back to his job.
"Working with the Soldiers from Ohio has been great," said Faulcon. "Everyone we've worked with has been really nice and extremely professional. We've got a rough job ahead of us and I know we wouldn't be able to do it without these Soldier's help."
The patrol pulls off to the side of the road, flood water making further passage impossible. Faulcon jumps out of the back of the HUMVEE and looks across a fence.
"There it is," he says slowly shaking his head. "That's where I liveâ?¦.my house is right over thereâ?¦and it's all still under water."
hkat
| Date Taken: | 09.18.2005 |
| Date Posted: | 09.18.2005 21:25 |
| Story ID: | 3048 |
| Location: | NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 680 |
| Downloads: | 178 |
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