Nagin defends Use of Phantom Police
 
"Ray Nagin, mayor of New Orleans, lashed back at critics after the FBI discovered that up to 700 so-called members of the city police force simply
did not exist.  Funding for many of these officers was provided by the federal government.
 
'During the storm and aftermath we'd heard reports that hundreds of New Orleans police officers had deserted their post,' said an FBI spokesman.
'Further, investigation indicates that these posts had never been manned and the funds supposedly paid in wages has disappeared.'
 
'Sure we overstated the number of officers on the force,' said Nagin.  'We did this to deter crime.'  As Nagin explained it, the phantom officers were
used as a decoy to frighten would-be offenders.  'Just as George Washington lit fake campfires to lull the British troops before his surprise attack at
Princeton, we in New Orleans have employed a similar strategy.'

The effectiveness of Nagin's alleged strategy is in doubt, though.  New Orleans has one of the highest crime rates per capita in the nation.  As for
what happened to the funds that were supposed to have paid police salaries, Nagin asserted that they were used to hire consultants and purchase computer
software needed to sustain New Orleans' "virtual police force."
 
'The software had to be custom made,' said Nagin.  'It's not something you can buy at CompUSA.  Software designers don't come cheap.  Neither do the
public relations experts who developed our media campaign'

The media campaign featured TV spots of various street people implying that they could be undercover cops.  In one ad, an apparently toothless derelict
looks into the camera and says 'I be watchin' you.  So, don't you go misbehavin'."
 
Unimpressed by Nagin's explanation, the FBI asserted it will continue its investigation.

 

By JOHN SEMMENS in The Arizona Conservative, Sept. 30, 2005.

 ...............

And they want us to give them $40 billion, no strings attached and no oversight, to rebuild New Orleans!  Mayor Ray Nagin may be remembered as a worthy student of the deceased boss of Louisiana, Huey P. Long.

 

The reasoning here reminds me of the "Menendez Defense" wherein the two Menendez brothers killed their wealthy parents for their estate and then pleaded the court's mercy because they were sexually-abused orphans!  The first trial jury actually bought this defense and the case resulted in a hung jury.  The second trail got them life in prison.