NEW ORLEANS – Acting at the mayor's request, Gov. Kathleen Blanco said yesterday she would send National Guard troops and state police to patrol the streets of New Orleans after a bloody weekend in which six people were killed.
“The situation is urgent,” Blanco said. “Things like this should never happen, and I am going to do all I can to stop it.”
One hundred National Guardsmen with law enforcement experience and 60 state police officers were to be sent to the city today. Up to 200 more troops would be deployed after that, said Denise Bottcher, the governor's spokeswoman.
Earlier yesterday, Mayor Ray Nagin had asked for as many as 300 National Guardsmen and 60 state police officers.
It was the first time the National Guard has been used for law enforcement in the United States since the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when about 15,000 soldiers were sent to the city.
Nagin had sought the troops after five teenagers in an SUV were shot and killed in the city's deadliest attack in at least 11 years. Police said the attack apparently was motivated by drugs or revenge. Also, a man was stabbed to death Sunday night in an argument over beer.
The mayor said troops should be posted in heavily flooded neighborhoods to free police to concentrate on hot spots elsewhere.
Community leaders have expressed fears that the violence could discourage people from moving back to New Orleans.
The police force has been operating with depleted ranks. It has about 1,375 officers, compared with about 1,750 before Katrina. The city's pre-Katrina population of 465,000 has rebounded to about half its size.
The governor urged the mayor to put a juvenile curfew in place. New Orleans has a curfew for juveniles, but Police Superintendent Warren Riley said it is not being enforced because there is no place to put young offenders.
The killings during the weekend brought this year's murder toll to 53, raising fears that violence was back on the rise in a city that was plagued by violent crime before the Aug. 29 hurricane drove out much of the population last year.
Crime has been creeping back into the city. There have been 17 killings in the first three months of 2006 and 36 since the start of April.
At least three other people, ages 16 to 27, have been fatally shot in the same area where the five teenagers were killed early Saturday.
Nagin's request for help had been backed by the City Council.
“If we don't have wind knocking us down, we have shooters knocking us down, and that's unacceptable,” said City Council President Oliver Thomas.
In addition to Nagin's request for troops and state police, the City Council said it would consider increasing overtime for police to put more officers on the street. It also called for a “crime summit” within two weeks.
“We have to deal with it now,” Councilman Arnold Fielkow said. “If we don't make people feel safe in their homes, nothing will happen. Let's make this priority No. 1.”
