Hurricane Katrina sent many New Orleans residents away from the city for good. That included hundreds of police officers during a chaotic and uncertain time for the city's public safety. How has the New Orleans Police Department recovered in the last two decades?
There's no denying that Hurricane Katrina created a massive shakeup in the NOPD.
"August, 2005, the department has around 1,500 officers and recruits, which for a pre-Katrina level is roughly where they were kind of that entire half-decade before Katrina," said data analyst Jeff Asher.
Asher says the department lost hundreds of officers in the immediate aftermath.
Melanie Talia of the New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation says much like the rest of the city, NOPD officers weren't fully prepared for the scope of Katrina's wrath.
"Not every officer was prepared to be homeless," said Talia. "Not every officer was prepared to have their families homeless."
She said it had officers in a frenzy to do what they needed to keep themselves and their families safe, and also do the job of police work in an incredibly unfamiliar and chaotic circumstance.
"How are we going to police the city of New Orleans, frankly, boat?" she said.
The NOPD rebuilt its ranks following Hurricane Katrina, but the storm also exposed a dark side to NOPD, in the form of the Danziger Bridge shootings and killing of Henry Glover. That led to a federal consent decree, and a department that had to reform its image.
"Some folks still have that traditional 'catch the bad guy and throw them in jail' mentality. NOPD offers so much more than that," said Talia, "whether it's drones, being an emergency medical responder, community engagement."
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