Les Jones

News > Paper Cops in New Orleans?

During and after Hurricane Katrina a lot of cops didn't show up for work. I've seen that attributed to deriliction of duty, and I've also seen it attributed to the police force not being asked to report for duty as a cost-saving measure (which seemed hard to swallow).

Fox's Tony Snow is saying that only about half of the New Orleans cops supposedly on the force really existed, that the others existed only on paper. Some people supposedly in the know agree.

One story is that officials may have lied about their force size to be eligible for federal programs. Another possibility is that the missing cops are a sign of corruption. It will be interesting to see if those paper cops were cashing paychecks. "No show jobs" are an old tool for buying political influence and pocketing taxpayer money in kickbacks.