Chapter Appendix B - What Went Right
Section Department of Justice
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Department of Justice
The Bureau of Prisons provided extensive support to the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Some of those accomplishments included transporting 4,000 Louisiana Department of Corrections inmates out of New Orleans jails. Busses staffed by Bureau personnel from both within and outside of the region were dispatched to assist with this operation. The agency also transported fifty-five inmates from the St. Charles Parish Jail to the Federal Detention Center in Houston, Texas at the request of the U.S. Marshals Service, as well as seventy inmates from Harrison and Pearl River Counties, Mississippi to the northern part of that state. In addition to moving inmates, Bureau of Prisons staff provided supplies to the storm ravaged region. Specifically, staff from the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia and the Federal Prison Camp in Montgomery, Alabama delivered to New Orleans toothpaste, toothbrushes, soap, shampoo, mouthwash, disposable personal sanitation packs, 600 Meals Ready to Eat (MRE), 600 hot trays of potato dinners, 600 cans of orange juice, eighty cases of water bottles, sheets, linen and pillows.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation recognized that there was a lack of unified law enforcement leadership, and no central coordination for law enforcement in New Orleans, and created a Law Enforcement Coordination Center (LECC).35 Once the LECC was established, all law enforcement personnel and agencies (including those provided by the National Guard) had a unified command structure. This allowed every law enforcement agency operating in the New Orleans area to coordinate with other agencies.36 Additionally, senior federal law enforcement officials from the FBI and DHS not only coordinated the response of the Federal law enforcement agencies, they also brought the New Orleans Police Department command element together for the first time since the hurricane struck. Further, they integrated Federal law enforcement assets and personnel into the remaining local police structure.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Michael Wolf and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant Director Michael Vanacore, were appointed to serve as the Co-Senior Federal Law Enforcement Officials (SFLEO) under the NRP. Within a day of their appointment and for the first time since Katrina made landfall, the SFLEOs brought together all the Federal law enforcement agencies operating in the New Orleans area with the State police to coordinate efforts. The SFLEOs established a Law Enforcement Coordination Center (LECC) first in Baton Rouge and subsequently in New Orleans modeled after the FBI's Joint Operations Center. The LECC coordinated all law enforcement activities in the New Orleans area, bringing together Federal, State, and local law enforcement to including National Guard and DOD military police to provide assistance and support to the New Orleans Police Department. The rapid establishment of the LECC led to the rapid coordination of law enforcement activities and the restoration of law and order in New Orleans.
The United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana supported law enforcement operations during the first week following Hurricane Katrina's impact. They were required to quickly set up two completely new offices in Baton Rouge and Houma, Louisiana. A large portion of their employees worked hard to accomplish this. However, certain members of their staff particularly distinguished themselves during the initial period when their operations were being conducted out of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Louisiana. Despite being dislocated from their homes and having the option of administrative leave, many of these employees went to Baton Rouge on their own to become involved in operations. Other essential employees came in to perform necessary tasks without any assurance that they would have a place to stay.
Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Michael Magner evacuated to Baton Rouge, Louisiana where he arranged for his own lodging. He was one of the first AUSAs to report for duty and coordinated the manning of the regional jail facility established at the New Orleans bus station, personally performing several twenty-four hour shifts. He also supervised the handling of complaints and judicial appearances in cases involving persons arrested on criminal charges during that initial period. AUSA Stephen Higginson moved in with a friend in Baton Rouge while his family evacuated to Boston, Massachusetts. He immediately began handling a number of thorny legal issues that had arisen while at the same time performing twenty-four hour shifts at the bus station. AUSA Brian Marcelle, while providing for his wife and two infant children, voluntarily performed twenty-four hour shifts at the bus station, handled complaints, and made judicial appearances in cases involving persons arrested on criminal charges during that initial period.
On September 4, 2005, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) received a tip from a resident regarding gunfire in a New Orleans neighborhood. ATF Special Response Team (SRT) members responded, equipped with night vision goggles, and witnessed two individuals shooting at a helicopter as it flew overhead. The two men fled to a residence, and the SRT personnel entered the location and seized two handguns. One of the subjects, a convicted felon, gave a statement regarding the incident and was the first person federally arrested by any agency in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
ATF agents also provided critical supplies on numerous occasions (including food, water, clothing, protective equipment, and ammunition) to the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD). On September 1, an ATF agent responded to New Orleans to provide assistance and emergency provisions to an NOPD Task Force Officer conducting post-storm operations. On September 2, upon arriving in New Orleans and setting up camp at a post office in the Algiers neighborhood, ATF SRT agents offered assistance to the NOPD SWAT team and 4th district officers. The police officers advised they had not seen or heard from any federal agency and were glad to see the ATF personnel, as they were running low on ammunition, food and water. The ATF SRT provided the NOPD with these supplies and immediately began assisting with law enforcement missions.
On September 3, ATF New Orleans Field Division agents provided security at a Mandeville, Louisiana hospital to which a large number of evacuees were being airlifted. Due to aircraft coming under fire, the hospital requested that ATF provide armed support for a rescue mission into the city to evacuate patients and personnel from Tulane University Hospital. Two agents assisted on this mission resulting in the rescue/evacuation of fourteen people. Agents also provided an armed escort for a transport shipment of emergency medical supplies from the New Orleans Airport to the Mandeville hospital.
Beginning on September 8, ATF SRT responded on several occasions with NOPD to clear the Fisher Housing Development after receiving reports of sniper fire. Several firearms were recovered, but the reports of sniper fire continued. On September 10, ATF SRT, acting on a tip, deployed to the Fisher Housing Development and found an AK-47 assault weapon with a 100 round magazine. It is believed that this was the weapon used during the reported sniper shootings in the area. After seizing the weapon, no more sniper reports were made.
ATF SRT personnel also established a medical facility to provide medicine and prescription drugs (e.g., insulin) to individuals in need and living in the area of the SRT base at the Algiers post office. ATF SRT personnel went to residences and nursing homes to provide food, water, and much-needed medical attention to people who could not or would not leave their homes. On September 4, with the assistance of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, ATF personnel rescued at least twenty-three people, including one ATF employee, who were trapped in their homes.
Throughout the response to Hurricane Katrina, ATF continued to reach out to the sick and elderly citizens in the New Orleans area. On September 13, as Hurricane Rita was headed toward the Gulf Coast, SRT personnel went to all of the sick and elderly people known to them in the New Orleans area and attempted to convince them to evacuate. The many people that chose to remain in their homes were provided with food and water. Additionally, ATF agents rescued scores of domesticated animals throughout the response to the hurricane.
In response to the housing shortage, New Orleans ATF Field Division agents opened their residences to provide lodging to coworkers who were displaced from their homes and to other ATF agents on detail from other parts of the country. Agents assisted in the cutting and clearing of fallen trees at the residences of a number of field division personnel, and assisted many division personnel in returning to their residences in severely damaged areas to conduct damage assessments and retrieve personal effects. New Orleans Field Division agents provided personal security for Assistant United States Attorneys for the Eastern District of Louisiana returning to their offices and residences to retrieve important case information.
Deputy United States Marshal (DUSM) Justin Vickers of the New Orleans U.S. Marshals Service office found out there was a stranded elderly lady (in her 80s) in an apartment complex. Although she was able to call out by telephone; she was confused and unable to provide her apartment number and street address. DUSM Vickers was able to locate the complex and find her. He not only rescued her from the abandoned complex but also found her suitable care in a family's home located in Baton Rouge.
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