Eddie's Ready To Leave: NOPD Chief Quits

During the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, two New Orleans figures seemed omnipresent. The first was the bald, gray-goateed mayor whose profanity-laced addresses to the media made him at times sound like a losing football coach. The other was the police chief, Eddie Compass, whose tongue-twisted, exasperated public statements caused him to resemble someone on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Those who don't know New Orleans probably think Compass's departure is a good thing for the city.

Over the past four weeks, the head of the city's police had to shoot his way out of a besieged hotel, presided over a department that had disintegrated to roughly 30% of its active force- the AWOL 250 number is very charitably inaccurate, mass looting- some by policemen while wearing their uniform, and the worst riot in New Orleans in over 100 years.

So why am I not dancing in the street and beating his likeness with my shoe over his dismissal.um I meant resignation?

I honestly believe Compass is a sincere person and did the best he possibly could. While good intentions are the stuff freeways to hell are paved out of, in a corrupt morass like New Orleans, they not only count for something but differentiate him from most prominent people in influential positions of city government.

I had the chance to meet the chief at a Young Republicans meeting (Compass is not a Republican but courteously agreed to speak to the organization nonetheless). After listening to him speak, I developed a few opinions.

The first impression was he seemed obsessed with proving his mental agility. He spent a great deal of time discussing his academic research and even recited a lengthy poem he had committed to memory. The crowd of Republicans politely, if not patronizingly, applauded; I sat there and wondered how the hell the head of security for a crime filled city like New Orleans found the time to remember stanzas and hobnob at Loyola University while doing his job. Perhaps too harsh of a judgment on my part but that was not the only thing that popped in my mind.

My second take on Compass was that he was an honest cop. Not the most able man in uniform as a more qualified candidate for the post was probably passed over for political reasons, but he was at least trying, and for that he gained my sympathy if not respect.

With his career as a Police Chief ending on the same public note James Hazelwood's time as a sea captain concluded, Compass should be properly remembered for two things.

The first was the personal effort he put forth throughout the Katrina crisis. The chief was not just before the cameras in the Hyatt but also in the thick of it. There was one memorable scene where Compass through a bull horn was trying to quell unruly crowds outside the convention center.

The second instance of character was when Compass called for a repeal of the city's infamous "residency rule" for NOPD officers, a reverse discriminatory ordinance that has contributed to the spike in New Orleans' crime rate by chasing away experienced policemen who choose not to live in Orleans Parish.

The rule was enacted as a sop to the city's politically involved ministers and racial demagogues who prioritize demographics over public safety. The policy was a thinly veiled announcement that "whites need not apply." Several career policemen who skirted the ludicrous rule were humiliated on the front-page of the Times Picayune only weeks before Katrina hit.

Few African-American politicians, including the business oriented mayor, have shown the guts to scuttle it out of fear of being labeled an "Uncle Tom" even though the results of this politically correct yet reality challenged policy were evident in the post-Katrina lootings.

Compass's replacement for the interim and possibly the long-term is Warren Riley, the deputy chief and unsuccessful candidate for Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff. Riley is a competent career officer and not as prone to exhibit himself emotionally as Compass did.

Hopefully Riley will pick up the tattered standard of taking politics out of police recruitment by scrapping the "residency rule" and promptly clean house of those men and women charged with the responsibility to serve and protect who failed both the people and their boss.