I can't really say much more about this, except that somehow it MUST be W's fault.
Link: NOLA.com: T-P Orleans Parish Breaking News Weblog.
NOPD investigation of Cadillac cops may involve brass
Dozens may have fled in 'commandeered' cars
Cops turned up in Baton Rouge after storm
By James Varney and Walt Philbin Staff writers
Acting New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley said Thursday that as many as 40 officers from the department's 3rd District, including the commanding captain, are "under scrutiny" for possibly bolting the city in the clutch and heading to Baton Rouge in Cadillacs from a New Orleans dealership.
"It is a subject that is under review," Riley said, stopping short of saying he has launched a formal investigation.
Asked if Capt. Donald Paisant, who replaced Capt. James Scott as the 3rd District commander, was a part of that review, Riley said, "Certainly the commander of that district is under scrutiny."
Last week, after reports surfaced that the Louisiana attorney general's office was investigating the alleged theft of about 200 cars from Sewell Cadillac Chevrolet, possibly by NOPD officers, Riley revealed his own internal investigations.
All told, Riley said 12 officers were under investigation for looting or failing to combat looting in their presence, four officers had been suspended and one had been reassigned.
He acknowledged then that an unspecified number of officers were being looked at for their alleged involvement in the Sewell incident, which took place in the first four days after Katrina ripped through town.
Riley said he was surprised to learn that "at least 40" 3rd District officers were in Baton Rouge after the hurricane. Riley said that at some point after a number of 3rd District teams were rescued from the Louisiana State University Dental School he spoke to clumps of them at the Hampton Inn and Suites on Convention Center Boulevard.
"At that point they were just settling in for the evening," he said. "A day or so later we learned they were in Baton Rouge, and they were immediately ordered to return to the city."
The story about the 3rd District's involvement at Sewell has percolated among the force for weeks and has some captains enraged, but Riley's statement was the first indication it has come to the attention of NOPD's highest circle.
The 3rd District was flooded out of its Moss Street headquarters, and officers had been trapped in the dental school for three days.
Riley said many of the district's cars had been washed out and that evacuating officers from the dental school proved difficult because the water level was 6 feet below the nearest windows. What's more, officers have related tales of living with no food or water for days, and carrying a 300-pound sergeant with a broken ankle up and down flights of stairs.
It remains unclear how many of the cases launched by Riley will be resolved, but he vowed Thursday, as he did when Mayor Ray Nagin appointed him as acting superintendent, to not let officers off the hook.
"The public will clearly see the change on this as time goes on," he said. "Discipline will be one of our top three priorities, along with professionalism and integrity, and we are doing all that we can to get to the bottom of this."
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