Law Enforcement During Natural Disasters in the United States
All of us are aware that law enforcement plays a big role in our society. During the natural disasters, law enforcement becomes even more important and many people begin to depend on them. It is obvious that natural disasters tend to create chaos, mess, disorganization and their role is to calm people down. They are the ones who are helping victims with their fears, concerns, and public safety and still keeping “law and order”. In my paper I want to take a deep look at how law enforcement dealt with natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, and at their positive and negative impacts on our society. By looking through the article, journals and books I came to know that during Hurricane Katrina, law enforcement agencies were not well prepared to handle it. During natural disasters the most important part of law enforcement agencies is to be aware of pre-disaster planning as well as have special training. According to Michael Smith, “Katrina clearly demonstrated, however, that the failure by local law enforcement agencies to imagine and plan for major hurricane exacerbated the public safety impacts of the storm and severely hampered their ability to provide much-needed public services” (2006: 05).
In my research I want to have my focus on how law enforcement agencies were prepared and handled the pressure and chaos as well as how they were trained. I do believe that it is a really important topic because we need to address any issues we have because we as a nation need to be prepared for natural disasters, especially law enforcement agencies. I hope my research will bring the importance of the issue on our society and law enforcement agencies along with our people so ...
... middle of paper ...
...pport that can help to reveal stress and trauma during natural disasters. Also this study focuses on the way law enforcement and government handled the stress and the negative impact of social environment and stress.
Villmoare, Adelaide H. 2007. "Policing and the Politics of Public and Private in
Post-Katrina New Orleans." Studies in Law, Politics, and Society
41:169-185
(http://ezproxy.csusm.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/61725259?accountid=10363).
Adelaide H. Villmoare in her study examines how government and law enforcement kept the New Orleans on “law and order” limiting their actions concerning public responsibilities. The main look was more based on order than on law. We get to know that policing and law enforcement agencies along with government was the main answer to the order during the Hurricane Katrina and flooding in New Orleans.
Royer, Jordan. “Hurricane Sandy and the importance of being FEMA”, Crosscut.com, Crosscut.com, Web. 1 Nov 2012, 3 May 2014.
In the late summer of 2005, a terrible tragedy occurred that changed the lives of many in the south-east region of the United States. A Category 3, named storm, named Hurricane Katrina, hit the Gulf Coast on the 29th of August and led to the death of 1,836 and millions of dollars’ worth of damage (Waple 2005). The majority of the damage occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana. Waple writes in her article that winds “gusted over 100 mph in New Orleans, just west of the eye” (Waple 2005). Not only was the majority of the damage due to the direct catastrophes of the storm but also city’s levees could no longer hold thus breaking and releasing great masses of water. Approximately, 80% of the city was submerged at sea level. Despite the vast amount of damage and danger all throughout the city, officials claimed that there was work being done to restore the city of New Orleans as a whole but many parts, and even the people, of the city were overlooked while areas of the city with higher economic value, and more tourist traffic, were prioritized along with those individuals.
Most of the destructions from the events of August 29th 2005, when Katrina Hit the City Of New Orleans, were not only caused by the storm itself; but also, by failure of the engineering of the levee system protecting the entire infrastructure of the city. The years of poor decision making and avoidance of the levee system led to one of the most catastrophic events in the history of the United States. Throughout our research, we have identified three key players in charge of the levee system design, construction and maintenance. These three organizations are the Unites States Corps of Engineers, the New Orleans Levee District and the Louisiana Department of Transportation. The consequences of the hurricane showed the organizations negligence in the design, construction and maintenance of the protective walls. Later independent sresearch showed that more than 50 levees and food walls failed during the passage of the hurricane. This failure caused the flooding of most of New Orleans and all of ST. Bernard Parish. The Unites States Corps of Engineers had been in charge of the of the levee system and flood walls construction since the 1936 flood act. According to the law, the Louisiana Department of Transportation is in charge to inspect the overall design and engineering practices implemented in the construction of the system. Once the levee systems were finished, they were handed over to the New Orleans Levee District for regular maintenance and periodically inspections. The uncoordinated actions of these three agencies resulted in the complete failure of a system that was supposed to protect the people of New Orleans. The evidence is clear that this catastrophic event did not happened by chance. The uncoordinated response of these...
Hurricane Katrina was considered as the worst hurricane in the history of United States. The winds and the rain were shattering people’s homes which collapsed and flooded. Thousands of people were suffering and dying. People were starving, and becoming dehydrated. Many people were left on the street and became homeless. After the hurricane, so many questions were left regarding the widespread damage and loss of loved ones. This devastating disaster destroyed the city of New Orleans and nearby cities and was estimated to cost $80 billion dollars in damage. State and local emergency in the affected area were struggling to perform urgent response missions such as emergency medical services, search and rescue, firefighting, giving food and water,
Regina:The Early Years. (2014). Cyclone of 1912. Regina: The Early Years 1880 -1950. Retrieved March 7, 2014, from http://scaa.usask.ca/gallery/regina/central/cyclone.html
New Orleans has always been a hotspot for crimes, historically having one of the highest murder rates in the country. New Orleans prolific crimes can be traced back to the 19th century, when New Orleans was expanding its ports and commerce; groups fought for power to control the revenue streams. Ultimately, organized crime groups and mafia families fought for control - of ports, types of commerce and groups of workers they could control. These fights led to assassinations, murder, and other crimes that continue to this day. The police lost control - they would not step in to interfere with the illegal activities because either they were paid off by the criminals or feared they would be killed by the mafia. The lack of police intervention caused private citizens to step in, creating lynch mobs to tackle crime and take out criminals.
The Coast Guard, for instance, rescued some 34,000 people in New Orleans alone, and many ordinary citizens commandeered boats, offered food and shelter, and did whatever else they could to help their neighbors. Yet the government–particularly the federal government–seemed unprepared for the disaster. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) took days to establish operations in New Orleans, and even then did not seem to have a sound plan of action. Officials, even including President George W. Bush, seemed unaware of just how bad things were in New Orleans and elsewhere: how many people were stranded or missing; how many homes and businesses had been damaged; how much food, water and aid was needed. Katrina had left in her wake what one reporter called a “total disaster zone” where people were “getting absolutely
Elliott, J. R., & Pais, J. (2006). Race, class, and Hurricane Katrina: Social differences in human responses to disaster. Social Science Research, 35(2), 295-321.
Hurricane Katrina was one of the most devastating natural disasters to happen in the United States. The storm resulted in more then US$100 billion in damage when the cities flood protection broke and 80% of the city was flooded (1). The protection failure was not the only cause for the massive flooding, the hurricanes clockwise rotation pulled water from north of New Orleans into the city. 330,000 homes were destroyed and 400,000 people from New Orleans were displaced, along with 13,00 killed (1). Although the population quickly recovered, the rate of recovery slowed down as the years went on leading us to believe not everyone
Hurricane Katrina was one of the most devastating tragedies to ever hit North America. It claimed the lives of over 900 people from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Unfortunately, that is not why a majority of people in America remember. As many know, these three states in the heart of the Deep South represent some of the poorest in the country. After the storm, the government was disgracefully slow to respond to the cause. Health care was in an overwhelming shortage. Depending on where people lived, determined their chances for survival. Race and class are believed to be the main factors in determined who was put at the top of the priority list. The purpose of this essay to explain how these factors contributed to the pitiful response
The initial response or lack thereof, to the widespread disaster in the Gulf Coast, caused by Hurricane Katrina, demonstrated high levels of incompetence and disorganization by government officials. Images of desperate individuals awaiting rescue on their rooftops, and masses of people packed together in deplorable conditions in the Super Dome, circulated the globe. There was no hiding from the painful reality and the obvious inaction or inability of those responsible to care for these individual in the wake of this catastrophe. (12, 791)
Hazards pose risk to everyone. Our acceptance of the risks associated with hazards dictates where and how we live. As humans, we accept a certain amount of risk when choosing to live our daily lives. From time to time, a hazard becomes an emergent situation. Tornadoes in the Midwest, hurricanes along the Gulf Coast or earthquakes in California are all hazards that residents in those regions accept and live with. This paper will examine one hazard that caused a disaster requiring a response from emergency management personnel. Specifically, the hazard more closely examined here is an earthquake. With the recent twenty year anniversary covered by many media outlets, the January 17, 1994, Northridge, California earthquake to date is the most expensive earthquake in American history.
Some of the damage done by Hurricane Katrina could have potentially been avoided if protection systems were installed to the proper extents. In Louisiana, “some parts of the metro area continue to lack hurricane protection built to federal standards” (Webster). Had the greater Louisiana area been better protected, it is very likely that more people would have survived and the total cost of the storm been less. Even in areas where levees...
August 29, 2005 was one of the darkest days for the residents of the State of Louisiana. Katrina, a category 3 hurricane, ripped through New Orleans and the surrounding areas causing catastrophic loss of life and property. The federal government’s disaster response team, which was formed in 1978, titled the Federal Emergency Management Agency, (commonly referred to as FEMA) responded to the needs of the survivors. Unfortunately the Bush administration through FEMA showed gross ineptitude in its response to the disaster. Pre-Katrina the lack of response resulted in a largely unsuccessful evacuation. After the storm, aid to the citizens of New Orleans was slow and inadequate. When we look back at the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, it appears that Bush’s FEMA botched much of the handling of the crisis and that overall, our “administration” could have responded to the situation much better.
Hurricanes are powerful and destructive storms that involve great rain and wind. The United States of America has dealt with many hurricanes that have cost a great amount of damage. However, there is one hurricane that happened in 2005 that stands out among the others, Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst hurricanes to hit the United States, a category 5 on the Saffir/Simpson Hurricane Scale. An estimated 1836 people died because of the hurricane and the floodings that happened after (Zimmermann 1). Katrina initially beg...