Great Moments in the History of American Public Administration

Boy, the new commissioner of the NOPD is inspiring confidence that he's going to clean up the crapulent department that let things get so out of control during the flood:

``The investigation does in fact show police officers with some items,'' acting Police Superintendent Warren Riley said Thursday. He said four of the 12 officers have already been suspended for failing to stop looting.

``It was not clear that they in fact looted,'' Riley said of the four. ``What is clear is that some action needed to be taken and it was not.''

Riley drew a distinction between taking useful items such as food and jeans, which he contended didn't amount to looting in a crisis, and taking luxuries such as jewelry. He suggested that arresting looters was difficult amid the chaos following the storm.

``Minor offenders, it was determined, we could not in fact arrest them,'' he said.

Incidents in which officers took Cadillacs from a dealer's lot were not looting because the officers patrolled in the cars, said Riley, who was appointed to the job this week after his predecessor resigned. However, Riley said authorities were looking into whether the officers had driven the cars illegally.

``There were some officers who did use Cadillacs,'' Riley said. ``Those cars were not stolen.''

Hey, because it's logical in a city whose poorest parts are underwater, where there is rampant looting and anarchy, for the Police to go and "borrow" some Levis and Caddies, what with their government paid for trip to Vegas coming and all.....