Almost two weeks after the devastation brought by Hurricane Katrina, a hodgepodge army of law enforcement officers from around the country have converged on this city to help its besieged police force restore order. About 10,000 local, state and federal officers--from close-in locations in like Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Georgia, and as far away as Illinois, New Mexico and California--are patrolling the streets and helping the search-and-rescue efforts.
"The men and women who are here know their jobs and do it very well," said Capt. Marlon A. Defillo, a spokesman for the New Orleans Police Department. "A robbery in New Orleans is the same as a robbery in Los Angeles. All you are doing is changing the name of the locale."
At least two dozen have taken leave from my local department, which is already short of manpower from the War in Iraq because those officers called up are not at work, but they have a right to return to work when released by the National Guard.