New Orleans police chief resigns

updated 8:53 a.m. ET Sept. 29, 2005

NEW ORLEANS - Police Superintendent Eddie Compass resigned Tuesday after four turbulent weeks in which the police force was wracked by desertions and disorganization in Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath.

“I served this department for 26 years and have taken it through some of the toughest times of its history. Every man in a leadership position must know when it’s time to hand over the reins,” Compass said at a news conference. “I’ll be going on in another direction that God has for me.”

As the city slipped into anarchy during the first few days after Katrina, the 1,700-member police department itself suffered a crisis. Many officers deserted their posts, and some were accused of joining in the looting that broke out. Two officers Compass described as friends committed suicide.

But while New Orleans undoubtedly suffered chaos following the hurricane, new reports have emerged indicating many of the claims of civil unrest were unfounded. The ugliest reports — children with slit throats, women dragged off and raped, corpses piling up in the basement — that soon became a searing image of post-Katrina New Orleans may have been exaggerated, police are saying.

The stories were told by residents trapped inside the Superdome and convention center and were repeated by public officials. But now police are re-examining the reports and finding that many of them have little or no basis in fact.

Unfounded rumors of chaos
They have no official reports of rape and no witnesses to sexual assault. The state Department of Health and Hospitals counted 10 dead at the Superdome and four at the convention center. Only two of those are believed to have been murdered.

Nonetheless, Compass and his department were seen as helpless during the weeks following Katrina. Neither Compass nor Mayor Ray Nagin would say whether Compass was pressured to leave.

“It’s a sad day in the city of New Orleans when a hero makes a decision like this,” said Nagin, who appointed Compass in mid-2002. “He leaves the department in pretty good shape and with a significant amount of leadership.”

New Orleans evacuees at a shelter in Baton Rouge disagreed over the chief’s legacy and whether he should have resigned.

“It’s about time,” said Larry Smit, 52, who owns a construction company. “Get rid of all of them. They ain’t doing anything.”

But truck driver James Dordain, 41, said Compass had been doing a good job with an understaffed department and faced with an unprecedented natural disaster.

“They pushed a good man to the breaking point,” said Dordain, referring to other government authorities. “When they came, it was really too late.”

Assistant superintendent filling in for Compass
The mayor named Assistant Superintendent Warren Riley as acting superintendent.

Lt. David Benelli, president of the union for rank-and-file New Orleans officers, said he was shocked by the resignation.

“We’ve been through a horrendous time,” Benelli said. “We’ve watched the city we love be destroyed. That is pressure you can’t believe.”

Benelli would not criticize Compass.

“You can talk about lack of organization, but we have been through two hurricanes, there was no communications, problems everywhere,” he said. “I think the fact that we did not lose control of the city is a testament to his leadership.”

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