After Katrina, NOLA Police Authorized To Shoot Looters
For months a team of reporters from The Times-Picayune, PBS, and Pro Publica having been researching the numerous police shootings after Hurricane Katrina. Their findings are devastating to say the least:
In the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina, an order circulated among New Orleans police authorizing officers to shoot looters, according to present and former members of the department. It’s not clear how broadly the order was communicated.
Some officers who heard it say they refused to carry it out. Others say they understood it as a fundamental change in the standards on deadly force, which allow police to fire only to protect themselves or others from what appears to be an imminent physical threat.
The accounts of orders to “shoot looters,” “take back the city,” or “do what you have to do” are fragmentary.
The findings of their reporting have also been turned into an hour-long Frontline special called Law & Disorder It is now running on PBS or can be viewed online here.
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