A COUPLE of years ago, the gonzo television journalist Charlie LeDuff wanted to show people how impotent the police department of Detroit, a city then spiralling into bankruptcy and dysfunction, had become. So he visited a woman who had just called 911 to report a burglary at her house, and rolled film as they waited. To great comic effect, Mr LeDuff checked the house for intruders himself, then went to McDonald’s—twice—took a bath, and read a book to a child. The police finally showed up after four hours.
Mr LeDuff’s viral video could just as well have been filmed in New Orleans. A recent joint investigation by The New Orleans Advocate and WWL-TV found that New Orleans police have taken an average of 79 minutes to respond to 911 calls so far this year. That figure has tripled since 2010. And while police usually come more quickly to priority calls, response times in those cases have doubled as well, to an average of 20 minutes.
With its persistent violent-crime problem, there are plenty of genuine emergencies to worry about in New Orleans. The city’s murder rate is always among the nation’s...Continue reading
Source: United States http://ift.tt/1QfG1JB
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