When I saw the news that an NOPD office had actually pled guilty to covering up the shooting on the Danziger Bridge and agreed to cooperate with the government it floored me. The fact he tried to cover up what really happened didn’t floor me. The fact that he actually pleaded guilty did. They must have some serious evidence on Officer Lohman. My first thought about this is that there is a lot of pressure on prosecutors in this case. If any one of the seven officers accused doesn't plead guilty or get indicted we may see some race cards being thrown out around town and they will all be legitimate to me. This kind of thing should never happen and there needs to be zero tolerance and maximum sentences to anyone who had a hand in the shooting or the cover-up. We also need someone to look into every case these officers worked on to see if other people's rights have been violated. That’s the only way I feel we can move on without this hanging over the city.
There was a time in my life when an NOPD car would drive up and I and all my friends would cringe in fear hoping everything would be okay. When I first started driving in my teens there was nothing more frightening then seeing those blue lights behind me. I knew anything was possible if they pulled me over. I am older and not panicked like that now. I know enough officers personally to understand that it never was every one on the force who was doing wrong things. When you think about it the culture of the police department is just like the culture in the neighborhoods they fight crime in every day. There are good police officers that know some things are going on that shouldn’t be happening just like they are good people in bad areas that know the things are going on that shouldn’t be. In both instances those folks probably make up the majority. The problem is they all live by a code. Good officers don’t lose any sleep when a bad cop goes down but they won’t step up and speak out against those same officers. There’s a code. People in the community know who the killers are and whether they admit it or not, no one loses sleep when they get shot or go to jail. As rough as the environment is they are not going to call and turn in Ms. Jones’ grandson especially to the police that disrespected her nephew last week. It’s the same kind of code and a viscous cycle.
I just hope that since this officer chose to break the code and admit his wrong doing we can get this case resolved and start fixing the image of the department. If not then it will be interesting to see what happens because I don’t think this is one situation that the community should let go and get over without justice being served.
3 comments:
I couldn't believe it either! Makes you wonder what made him tell the truth.
How 'bout some, "We-got-you-dead-to-rights-and-since-you-were-the-supervisor-your-ass-is-going-to-jail-for-a-long-time-unless-you-give-us-the-rest-of-'em evidence?
Thanks Cliff.
I am seeing a disturbing trend with Katrina Shorhand among major media and even blogs.
What used to be a lazy journalistic (or often deliberate PR Spin) Shorthand for denying that the Corps devastated New Orleans, has now entered the Frame of what Happened to the People that first week of the resulting flood.
Here is a salient example from the Huff Post of the AP (bad KSrs)article on these Ferrel Lawmen. I show up around the middle of this page of the comments:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/24/excop-pleads-guilty-in-hu_n_475781.html?page=5&show_comment_id=41020889
The article bothers me enough, since these two are almost the Worst at continuing to Frame our Man-Made disaster as a Natural Disaster, to wit: Katrina did it.
However, as usual, it is the comments (view) from around the country that really brought me down.
I am seeing more of people referring to the Nightmare Chaos of that 1st week of the flood as: "just another disaster myth more or less."
"Smart People" and even locals who would surprise you:
(Disaster management scholar Joseph Trainor observed that “…people are not victims of disasters, they are survivors…People are adaptive and altruistic, mass rioting and mass looting are just disaster myths for the most part…”
Most people in New Orleans would agree because we saw it with our own eyes or heard about it from friends and loved ones.)
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=304507997031
That post shows up on my search engines at least once/day.
Such a sentiment coming from someone so close did more than surprise me. It is breaking my heart.
We The People Broke Down.
I saw it, barely survived and have driven 2 therapists into the ground describing it, trying to come to grips with my experiences then. It happened. I have tried to tell myself I didn't lose it, but I did. If any of you have followed my own posts on this, rest uneasy that I'm leaving out A LOT.
Now we are starting to see people who would deny America's absolute Breakdown of Civilization, who would call what I saw "Disaster Myth", as if it is some sort of Academic Exercise in Disaster Management Theory.
This is starting to creep me out,because Editilla can handle the Corps, we can handle asshole white-wing trolls. Hell we eat them for breakfast. We can handle the misinformed. But I am having some difficulty facing this from people close, who should know better.
There are so many different levels to this Man-made Disaster. Just to cite a few: Those who evacuated, those who returned, those like me who stayed and escaped the first day the Bridge opened.
For me there seems to be no end to it, no limitations except the Statue of Limitations.
This is like it's deja vu all over again.
Sorry to go on so long, but the right words words escape me.
Yet one remains: sadness.
For what it's worth, your Word Thingy Formator (WTFr) for this comment is "reatab".
"Reatab"...sounds like my next medication, though I probably won't be able to afford that one either.
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