Hurricane Katrina and Coping with Disaster Presented by: Tina Elghazi Mia Backon Kara Felson Image...

Hurricane Katrina

andCoping with

Disaster

Presented by:Tina ElghaziMia BackonKara Felson

Image Courtesy of Policing Katrina Wiki

Introduction

• This is a study of the coping methods utilized by police officers during and after Hurricane Katrina

• The events that the police officers witnessed had the potential to be extremely psychologically damaging

• In such a position of power and responsibility, police officers are expected to recover and provide security to the city and its citizens

Image Courtesy of Rick Wilking/Reuters

Background• State of Nature

– Locke describes this concept as the “condition of men living together without legitimate government”• Without an established government to protect life,

liberty and property, citizens become responsible for their own protection and survival

– Hobbes defines this as a “state of war of all against all, punctuated by frequent violence, in which participants correctly perceive themselves to be in constant danger”

• Social Contract– Rousseau emphasizes the need for a social

contract in order to preserve the lives of individuals and maintain individual freedom

Hurricane Katrina and the State of

Nature• Locke argues that if the newly established

government fails to protect life, liberty, and property, then the government has devolved into a state of nature as citizens become responsible for their own protection and survival.– “I have never, ever seen anything as badly bungled and

poorly handled as this situation in New Orleans… Where the hell is the water for these people?... This is Thursday, this storm happened five days ago! It’s a disgrace… This is the government that the tax payers are paying for, and it’s fallen right flat on its face”• -Jack Cafferty in “Outrage Expressed for Lack of Leadership during

Aftermath of Katrina”Information Taken From Policing Katrina Wiki

Image Courtesy of Kevin Caruso and HurricaneKatrina.com

Hurricane Katrinaand the State of Nature

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaINT2mj27Q

• “Thousands of evacuees sought refuge in that shelter of last resort only to be subjected to an unspeakable breakdown of law and order.”

Taken From Policing Katrina Wiki

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaINT2mj27Q


Hurricane Katrina and the State of Nature

• The breakdown of social order in the New Orleans police department alludes to Hobbes’s state of nature– “The challenge that’s presented that I feel that most

don’t understand is that, when you are so far removed from the city, you are removed from the resources, you are removed from the information, you are removed from the supplies, you are removed from the whole food chain. So, pretty much, it was a fend for yourself kind of operation” • Officer Robert Bardy, Commander of the 7th

District, NOPD


Hurricane Katrina

and the State of Nature

• The most elementary tasks of protection of life and property were severely threatened in the days following Hurricane Katrina– “They couldn’t get out. And it was just – I mean, it was like

something off a movie. Man, we saw people they had brought in, they were just dehydrated. So much water around, which was filled with filth, oil, gas, you know, from the cars and God knows what else. But to see so many people who were actually dehydrated, lack of food over those few days, it was – it was just – just something, you know, unreal.” • Reginald Cryer, former Marine and veteran officer with

NOPD

Information taken From Policing Katrina WikiImage Courtesy of Michael Appleton/New York Daily News

Hurricane Katrinaand the State of Nature

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IblL_rXpdu8

• 1:45 “We are all citizens that pay taxes, and we deserve to get better treatment than this”

• 3:45 “Everybody for themselves…”• 4:10 “You gotta do what you gotta do to

survive”


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IblL_rXpdu8


Deterioration

of Morality

• The state of nature evident in post-Katrina New Orleans echoed Hobbes’s expectations, proving that this “war of all against all” would endanger the citizens and increase the physical and psychological burden felt by New Orleans police officers– One newspaper article by James

Varney of The Times-Picayune portrays the increasing levels of emotional strain: "You've got no organization here. It's mass confusion, '' said Paul Davis, 54, who rode out the storm at the Guste high rise and was brought to the Convention Center by police. "Psychologically, everybody's emotions are high. There's no water. There's no food. They didn't do nothing to prepare for Katrina.'' – “Gunshots, Death, Frustration”

Information Taken From Policing Katrina WikiImage Courtesy of Kevin Caruso and HurricaneKatrina.com

Law and Disorder

• We live with the expectation that civil emergencies will be handled with serious care and competence– Worden elaborates that “the role of the police is best

understood as a mechanism for the distribution of non-negotiable coercive force employed in accordance with the dictates of an intuitive grasp of situational exigencies” (Worden, 24)

• The state of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina demonstrated how easily we take such expectations for granted– In “Law and Disorder”, one reporter argues that “in

times of crisis, that’s when police training is supposed to kick in”

Image and InformationTaken From Policing Katrina Wiki

“Death Work: Police Trauma and the Psychology of Survival”

-Vincent E. Henry• Death encounters experienced by police officers:

– Combat situations that pose a potential threat to their survival– Participate in the taking of a human life in the line of duty– Witness the line-of-duty-death of a fellow officer but manage to

remain alive• Police work is defined by an overarching perception of danger; “officers

perceive in their work the realistic and continual potential for meeting their own demise in the course of their professional duties” (Henry, 3)

• “Psychology of survival” perspective: the lasting imprint of an encounter with death, and the psychological tendencies that result from that encounter

• “Psychological numbing”: police must numb their response to death in order to succeed as police officers

From Chaos to Coping

• New Orleans police officers utilized a variety of methods to cope with the aftermath of the storm– Sought support from fellow officers– Distracted themselves with work– Emotionally detached themselves– Remained optimistic

• “We had no choice but to make the best out of a crazy, messed up situation that was out of our control. We didn’t do it. We didn’t cause it but, hey, we had to deal with it.”– Officer Sabrina Richardson, 6th District


Coping Methods• Drawing support from within the department

– “We kept our group together. I wouldn’t let anybody leave. We all stayed together, we ate together. You know, we worked together. I wasn’t letting them get separated because, when they were by themselves, they couldn’t draw strength from one another. And in a time of crisis like that, you need to draw strength off of one another. You know, today you may not feel like going to work, but I’m going to wake up and kick you in the behind and say, come on, brother, we’ve got stuff to do. Let’s go. But as long as you’re working, you’re not thinking about all the negative stuff, because you’re focused on what needs to be done. And then, by us talking at night and venting and getting things off of your chest, it don’t eat you up. And that’s what we did.”• Timothy P. Bayard, Captain of Vice and Narcotics


Coping Methods

• Remaining focused on work– In his lecture, U.S. Attorney Jim Letten referred

to the officers as “tough, stable and focused” and commended their ability to work under “adverse, crummy conditions”

– “People were dying in front of these officers. The officers were working breathing apparatuses by hand. It was really a challenge on these officers more so than where we were. You know, these were the officers that were most affected by Hurricane Katrina.” • Officer Robert Bardy, Commander of the 7th District

Image and InformationTaken From Policing Katrina Wiki

Coping Methods• Managing conflicting roles

– “I just really respect – I don’t know what I would have done if I didn’t know where my wife and kids were and if I didn’t know if they were safe or not. And, you know, these officers had a vow to their families. And they have a vow to the city too. And there was a major sense of abandonment by the city because I– more than once, I heard the words, I have no home.” • Joseph Cull, Chaplain for the New Orleans Police Department

– “You were kind of torn between the cop and the human. You know, your compassion for each other as a human being. And we had to act on certain situations. And you knew that, under normal conditions, these people wouldn’t be acting [this way]”• Officer Sabrina Richardson


Coping Methods

• Remaining emotionally detached– Officer Anika Glover noted that

“you have to detach yourself because, if you don’t, you get too emotionally involved. And you look at these houses that had water up to the roof and, if you look at it, it’s amazing, like, wow, we actually had that much water in the city. But then, if you look at it emotionally, you look at it like, but that was somebody house. And some days – some days, you go to work and you’re like, my God, look at this city. This is all people’s houses, people’s homes, and it really gets you down. And there’s some days you can just detach yourself and you’re like, yeah, this happened and we’re going to get it fixed. So it just depends.”


Coping Methods• The “Problem-Solver” Cop– Many of the police officers who worked during

Katrina reflected attributes of what Worden refers to as “problem-solver cops”. These officers “conceive of the role of police as one of offering assistance in solving whatever kind of problem their clientele face, and thus they see themselves as a positive force” (Worden, 26)

– “[The officers] were dealing with the chaos that’s still running through the city. And, like I said, they do this job because they care about people, you know, and they want to do what’s right and just. And the majority – and you’ve got your bad ones, but the majority, they’re just good people who care and they want – they want to make a difference… and they’re good people and they have good hearts and it broke their heart to see so many people suffering and dying”. Joseph Cull, Chaplain of the NOPD


Coping Methods• When officers were unable to deal with the stress of the

situation, some saw suicide as their only option– “On the night of the 30th – and my dates are a little off –one of our officers

killed himself. Committed suicide. From a multitude of different challenges and different pressures… The guy was a senior guy with the district, so it was definitely an impact player on the younger people. A role model. And this really weighed heavy on them. And it was, oh, probably two, three weeks before we could actually bury him. You know. So that was a big challenge. … I’ve done a lot of things in 32 years on this job. And I was in homicide. I’ve seen a busload of good people. You know. You get conditioned. But in 32 years, did I ever think that I would have to take one of my lieutenants and a sergeant and then dismiss everybody else and then take and have to put an officer, one of our own, in a body bag. And then take a sheet along the fire department and put him in the elevator so our officers didn’t have to actually see this… So that was a challenge that our officers, young officers, had to experience. So our challenges were different. They were more mental challenges than physical challenges.”• Officer Robert Bardy, Commander of the 7th District, NOPD


Learning From Tragedy

• Improved disaster preparation– “I think some of our biggest concerns were the fact that, if

people would have prepared themselves such that, okay, I know my wife and my kids are fine. Then all I have to worry about is living through this mess and doing my job. And I think if people had that philosophy and that mindset, we would have been better off. That’s what probably caused most of the problems within the officers as, once they were rescued, they didn’t know where their families were. Or they didn’t know where their mothers or their fathers were, or their kids. And that led to a lot of the problems within the police department as far as who stayed and who deserted. And I think that is a big issue.” • Officer Robert Bardy, Commander of the 7th District,

NOPD


Learning From Tragedy

• Adequate emotional support– “I have to assume that the city and the police department

deems you worthy of that uniform and that badge and that gun, and you should be able to maintain … it’s hard for me to fathom that anybody would not realize that, when you sign up for this job, this is what your duties are. And nobody that I knew that came on this job would have thought nonetheless that we’re here for the long haul. I think that’s a -- something that we have to learn to deal with better in the future. You know. To teach officers to prepare themselves physically and mentally for these challenges. Because this is what you came on this job for.” • Officer Bardy, Commander of the 7th District


Conclusion

• Did the New Orleans Police Department act to the best of their ability? Or were they doomed from the start?– Had the National Guard existed in place

of the NOPD, could their background training have improved the conditions of post-Katrina New Orleans?

Looking Forward• “I’m New Orleans, through and through. Born and

raised here. And I’ve been in different places. But there is no place like New Orleans, you know. I love my hot sauce, my hot sausage, you know. And I knew – when we were in the parking lot, we knew it was going to take work and it’s going to be a long haul.”

– Officer Sabrina Richardson• “Well, I think what you see now is, we won’t have this problem

again. I’m sure we won’t. We all learn from our mistakes. We all become better. I think the City of New Orleans will become better.”– Officer Bardy, Commander of the 7th

District


Works Cited• Appleton. Superdome Refugees. N.d. New Orleans Death Trap, New Orleans. The Internationalist.

Web. 10 Nov. 2010.• Caruso. Hurricane Katrina Images, New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina. Web. 10 Nov. 2010.• Geller, William A., Hans Toch, and Robert E. Worden. "Chapter 2/The Causes of Police Brutality."

Police Violence: Understanding and Controlling Police Abuse of Force. New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 1996.• Henry, Vincent E. "Death Work/Introduction/The Death and Policing Nexus." Death Work: Police,

Trauma, and the Psychology of Survival. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004.• Law and Disorder. ProPublica/New Orleans Times-Picayune, 2010. PBS. Frontline.• Letten, Jim. "Hurricane Katrina Lecture." Tulane University, New Orleans. 21 Oct. 2010• Mills, Charles W. The Racial Contract. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1997.• Morris, Christopher W. The Social Contract Theorists: Critical Essays on Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau .

Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1999.• Policing Katrina. Wiki Spaces. Web. http://policingkatrina.wikispaces.com.• "YouTube - Hurricane Katrina.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IblL_rXpdu8.• “YouTube- SuperDome during Hurricane Katrina.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaINT2mj27Q.• Walker, Samuel, Cassia Spohn, and Miriam DeLone. "Chapter 2/Victims and Offenders." The Color of

Justice: Race, Ethnicity, and Crime in America. Australia: Wadsworth Thomson Learning, 2000.• Wilking. Underwater Police Car. Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans. ABC News. Web. 10 Nov. 2010.

http://policingkatrina.wikispaces.com/



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