New Orleans Police State
The Militarization of New Orleans and the
Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane
Katrina
NOpolicestate.org
Roles and Responsibilities
Federal
National Response Plan (NRP)
 Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) & FEMA

State
National Guard Units
 Law Enforcement

Corruption & Mismanagement
Kenner, Louisiana Administration Officer
Cedric Floyd
 Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA)
 Veterans for Peace
 Louisiana State
 Unequal distribution of resources

Governor of Louisiana
Kathleen Babineaux Blanco:
“These troops are fresh back from Iraq,
well trained, experienced, battle-tested
and under my orders to restore order in
the streets. The have M-16s and they
are locked and loaded. These troops
know how to shoot and kill and they are
more than willing to do so if necessary
and I expect they will.”
August 19
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NORTHCOM
DCO’s
Friday August 26

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EMAC
Rotary Wing
& Crew
Sunday August 28

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225th ENG GRP
Missions
Monday August 29
Initial Survey
 SAR
 Task
 48 hrs323 flight hrs
2,662 rescued
2,273 transported
170 tons of cargo
70 tons Class I

Tuesday August 30

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No Mission DoD
Federalization
Request Federal
Military Support
Wednesday August 31



SAR
Security/Law &
Order
No to
Federalization
General Honore: witnessing NG soldiers
patrolling the streets of New Orleans
with guns up…
“This is not Baghdad, these are
American citizens.”
Thursday September 1


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
TF Katrina
DoD Resp.
Active DoD
Title 10
Friday September 2

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
NG Arrives
NG Troops
256th BDE
CMBT TM
Brig. Gen. Gary Jones
“This place is going to look like Little
Somalia,” said General Jones. “We’re going
to go out and take this city back. This
will be a combat operation to get this
city under control.”
The newspaper clearly got the message,
referring in its report to troops coming in to
“fight the insurgency in the city.”
September 3
Humanitarian Assistance
LTC Thibodeauz
“I felt a great pride in the fact that the
National Guard had saved the lives of
70,000 people through search and
rescue, relief, and evacuation. The
National Guard has a mission of
supporting civil authorities during times
of crisis. It is my belief that this unified
effort was the reason for this
tremendous success.”
September 4

DoJ & Law
Enforcement
Support
September 6

Forcible Removal
September 7 & 8

FRAGO 3 & 4
Major Dancer
“As we begin to prepare for another major hurricane I
look back on the number of missions that the National
Guard had conducted to date. Based on my expertise
as the LANG JOC operations officer for the past five
years, a typical hurricane response by the National
Guard might entail anywhere from 2-300 missions.
During this response the NG had been tasked with over
1,000 missions form the Louisiana Office of Homeland
Security and Emergency Preparedness. This number
does not include the thousands of missions conducted
by guardsmen working directly for local government
that were not tracked at the JTF level. The magnitude
of this storm had tested the National Guard and
demonstrated that we were able to respond in an
effective and timely manner.”
New Orleans Police
Department (NOPD)
Brutality & Corruption
before and after Hurricane
Katrina
Robert Davis, 64
The New Orleans resident and retired school
teacher, was viciously beat by three police
officers after he was detained for public
intoxication.
Mr. Davis has been alcohol free for 25 years and
was only in town to check on the damage of his
property after Katrina.
Shockingly enough the three officers were white and
Robert Davis is black.
The U.S. has the highest per capita
prison population in the world

National incarceration rate per 100,000
residents is 486
Louisiana incarceration rate - 816
– the highest per capita rate
 Texas is 2nd at 694
 All of the 5 highest state
incarceration rates are in the
southern United States

Intake at OPP
Orleans Parish Prison (OPP)
Pre Hurricane Katrina





Several building complex housing men,
women and less than 100 juveniles
Average inmate population - over 6000
9th largest jail in the U.S.
65% of those arrested and held are
released without ever being charged
with a crime
60% of the population are individuals held on
attachments, traffic, or municipal charges
Sunday August 28, 2005
National Press Conference
“[W]e have backup generators to
accommodate any power loss… We're fully
staffed. We're under our emergency
operations plan. So we're only -- we've been
working with the police department -- so
we're going to keep our prisoners
where they belong.”
~ Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff
Marlin N. Gusman
OPP and Katrina





About 2000 inmates from other facilities are
evacuated to the OPP complex including
women and juveniles
At landfall, the OPP population is over
8000
Last confirmed meal and clean water served is
at dinner on Sunday August 28
Inmates report loss of all phone
privileges on Sunday August 28
Those scheduled for release on or before
landfall are told that they will be held until after
the storm
OPP after Katrina
Angola “The Farm”

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The Louisiana state penitentiary at
Angola is the largest maximum security
prison in the United States
Angola has been a prison, notoriously one of
the most violent in the U.S., since the end of
the Civil War.
The 18,000-acre prison is on the site of
a plantation that derived its name from
the area in Africa that many of the slave
labors originated from – Angola
Inmates still perform manual farm labor
Angola “The Farm”





Current warden - Burl Cain, with a staff over
1000
Angola houses more than 5000 inmates
3/4 of them black
85%-90% of whom will die while inside
its walls
About 42% of the prisoners come from
Orleans and Jefferson Parishes
Camp Greyhound
Private Military Firms
and New Orleans
Blackwater employees in New Orleans armed
with M-16 assault rifles, handguns, plenty of
ammunition and wearing bulletproof vests.
PMFs are profit-driven organizations that trade
in professional services intricately linked to
warfare. They are corporate bodies that
specialize in the provision of military skills—
including tactical combat operations, strategic
planning, intelligence gathering and analysis,
operational support, troop training, and military
technical assistance.
P.W. Singer, from Corporate Warriors: The Rise and
Ramifications of the Private Military Industry
We are not simply a "private security
company." We are a professional military, law
enforcement, security, peacekeeping, and
stability operations firm who provides turnkey
solutions. We assist with the development of
national and global security policies and
military transformation plans.
Blackwater USA website, www.blackwaterusa.com
Blackwater employees in New Orleans:
September, 2005: ~200 employees. 164 employees
under contract with FPS through FEMA.
March, 2006: 330 employees. Blackwater still
protecting FEMA sites.
DHS contract HSCEFC-05-J-F00002 provided
Blackwater with $33.3 million through December 31,
2005. Blackwater made $42 million in New Orleans
through December.
March 15 proposal from St. Bernard Parish to FEMA:
FEMA would provide $70 million over 3 years for the
St. Bernard Parish Police Department to supplement
the police force with 100 contracted DynCorp
employees. The DynCorp employees would:
Wear the St. Bernard Parish police uniform;
Carry weapons, and;
Be deputized to make arrests.
DynCorp has made $14 million since landfall.
Instinctive Shooting International employee
Yoav Bardugo patrols Audubon Place armed
with an M-16 assault rifle.
“It's safe for the rich people,” Bardugo said.
Private Military Firms in New Orleans:
American Security Group
ArmorGroup
Blackwater USA
Body Armor and Tactical Security
DynCorp
Instinctive Shooting International
Intercon
Wackenhut
This is a trend. You're going to see a lot more
guys like us in these situations.
Blackwater employee quoted in October 10, 2005
issue of The Nation
Sources:
The Baltimore Sun
The Brookings Institution
The Christian Science Monitor
Democracy Now!
The Journal Gazette (Ft. Wayne, IN)
The Grand Rapids Press
The Guardian
The Nation
The Times-Picayune
USA Today
The Virginia-Pilot
The Washington Post
New Orleans Police State
The Militarization of New Orleans and the
Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane
Katrina
NOpolicestate.org