looting

[Sikander]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
I know at least 2 superstar musicians who would disagree with you...

Lenny Kravitz and Annie Lennox?

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker


Yeah, this should be obvious, even in the case of gratuitous theft with no other justification. Say you have a shop that sells expensive computer components (RAM, video cards, etc.) Better for the stuff to be saved than for it to all go to waste, even if it goes to someone who doesn't deserve it.

No, the stuff belongs to the store owner who has paid for it himself. If people steal it depresses the demand / price he'll get for that stuff when he re-opens.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
I found it staggering that some people hold property rights higher than the survival of fellow human beings.

Who here does so? I've read the entire thread and no one seriously thinks people should die because they won't steal clean water.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov

Take a logic course, because no such observation was made, or even implied.

No one seems to be addressing my point: Food and other perishibles aren't going to sit around waiting for 1 month (or two or three) for their "rightful owners" to return, and certainly aren't going to survive the flood waters.

Isn't it better people put this stuff to use--people in need, mind you--than fretting about looters?

For ****'s sake, WHO THE **** CARES ABOUT LOOTERS WHEN THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE TRAPPED AND IN DANGER OF DYING?

Looting is a non-story. It's a big "so what?" Nobody should be concerned about it at this point, considering the massive human catastrophe that is unfolding. We shouldn't be expending ANY resources to do anything about it, when those resources would be better served, you know, saving people's lives.

So I could care less if some idiot goes and rips off a TV. We'll see he how far he gets with it (I'm sure he won't get to take it with him in a mandatory evacuation).

The looting is going to result in a lot of other crimes as people try to protect their property from looters etc. It is all a distraction from rescue efforts for the police. I think it wise to have a short show of force / martial law in order to cut down on the looter euphoria, which seems to also be the plan of the pertinent authorities.

[Dr Strangelove]

Under the current conditions the food is not going to survive until the store reopens, so I don't see any problem with it being "distributed" in order to save lives. Luxury goods however should be left where they are.
With the city under water how is a someone going to keep notes about what he procured? Wet paper isn't very good for writing on.

[Patroklos]

I agree with that, but it should be managed. I doubt there are people starving to death after 2 days, water is a far greater concern. What they need to do is put two or three police officers or national guardsmen at each grocery store, open them up (as opposed to breaking in) and alow people in orderly. Or at least do this to the degree possible

This will not only keep things from devolving into violence. but also prevent hording.

[chequita guevara]

OMG, I agree with Patroklos.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Mrs. Tuberski
Che all folks are pretty much the same for me.

That's irrelevent. It's not what you or I think that we are discussing, but the presentation on the news: Black people are criminals, white people are survivors. This has nothing to do with whether looting is right or wrong.

[SlowwHand]

NBC sends armed guards to lawless Gulf Coast - 6 hours ago


Yeah, Urban Ranger. It's all about essentials.

NBC sends armed guards to lawless Gulf Coast

By Paul J. Gough
Thu Sep 1, 2:14 AM ET

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - NBC News has sent private security personnel to the increasingly dicey Gulf Coast region to help keep its employees safe while covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The private security officers, usually former soldiers or police, are licensed to carry firearms and are trained to keep the situation under control so that journalists can do their jobs safely. That's becoming increasingly difficult in New Orleans and in Gulfport, Miss., where there aren't enough police or National Guardsmen to keep the streets safe.

News crews have witnessed looting and other crimes as well as lots of gunfire in the days since Hurricane Katrina swept through Monday. Supplies of food, water and fuel are nearly nonexistent, and, in the 90-plus-degree heat, tempers have grown short. CBS News reported that gangs of gun-toting looters were roaming the streets; several television networks reported that New Orleans was pulling 1,500 police from the search-and-rescue mission to deal with looting and lawlessness in the streets.

[Tuberski]

You think that is bad?

NEW ORLEANS - The evacuation of the Superdome was disrupted Thursday after shots were reported fired at a military helicopter and arson fires broke out outside the arena. No injuries were immediately reported.


An air ambulance service official said earlier that helicopter transfers of the sick and injured were suspended, but the National Guard said Thursday that able-bodied evacuees were still being moved by bus to Houston's Astrodome

ACK!

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Sikander
The looting is going to result in a lot of other crimes as people try to protect their property from looters etc. It is all a distraction from rescue efforts for the police. I think it wise to have a short show of force / martial law in order to cut down on the looter euphoria, which seems to also be the plan of the pertinent authorities.

The looting we were talking about earlier was of abandoned stores, not places where people were still with their belongings. Nobody here said it should be ok for people to start taking things from folks still there.

As I said, I thought the police/NG should have been organizing the "looting" of supplies. Since they were "looting" gas, anyway, I don't think people would have had a problem with that.

Of course violence and stealing from people still there should be dealt with swiftly. I'm all for taking out any ******* who fires at a cop, or hijacks a car from its owner, or whatever else.

[Chemical Ollie]

Every looters wet dream

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Mrs. Tuberski
Che The forest is made up of nothing but trees. I am sorry but once you have seen one tree and are surrounded by them they all are trees and look the same.

Brilliant!

[OzzyKP]

Wikipedia's full report:

Looting and civil disturbance

Multiple incidents of looting have been reported in hurricane stricken areas, and in response, New Orleans, Biloxi and many other affected areas have declared 24 hour curfews [24]. New Orleans has deployed armed units to several locations within the city in response to looting. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour has stated that he has told the "Mississippi highway patrol and the National Guard to treat looters ruthlessly" and that "looting will not be tolerated and rules of engagement will be as aggressive as the law allows" [25].

WDSU has been showing images of a Winn-Dixie store being looted on Canal Street. WWL reports looting in a Winn Dixie on Basin Street with police officials on the scene [26].

Deteriorating conditions and law enforcement focus on rescuing people have combined to increase the number of looting incidents. Several areas are reporting large numbers of people who did not evacuate breaking into homes and stores and carting off clothing, home entertainment systems, jewelery and other merchandise. There have been multiple reports of looters brazenly trying on looted clothing in the street and bragging of the ability to obtain merchandise. One motel owner says people are just "filling up garbage bags and walking off like they're Santa Claus" [27].

Witnesses have compared the looting in New Orleans as being similar to Baghdad, Iraq. Denise Bollinger, a tourist from Philadelphia, stated that "It's downtown Baghdad. It's insane. I've wanted to come here for 10 years. I thought this was a sophisticated city. I guess not." [28].

Law enforcement response has been hampered due to the focus on rescuing trapped civilians. In many instances, lookouts will shout out "86", New Orleans Police radio code for police, to alert looters to flee prior to police arrival. In most cases, police officers watched silently because of the lack of manpower and focus on saving lives.

In some cases, commandeering of necessary supplies of food, water, ice and medical supplies from Wal-Mart, Rite-Aid and other stores by authorized relief workers and law enforcement has been confused with looting.

Fox News has also reported that two men with automatic weapons opened fire on a downtown New Orleans police station late Tuesday in an apparent retaliation against an officer who tried to stop looters earlier in the day from carting off clothes and jewelry from stores in the area. The top Homeland Security official in New Orleans, Terry Ebbert, said bands of gunmen were roaming through New Orleans. The Times-Picayune newspaper reported gun sections at stores had been cleaned out by looters. [29].

There have also been reports of several major civil disturbances within the Superdome where over 20,000 civilians have sought refuge. Media have reported civilians attacking each other and refugees have also reported being robbed of their valuables by other refugees across New Orleans [30]. CNN reports that a nurse was robbed at gunpoint by looters when she stepped outside of a hospital for some air. [31]

A New Orleans police officer was shot in the back of the head Tuesday afternoon on the west bank. The officer reportedly approached a looter near the intersection of Wall Boulevard and Gen. DeGaulle and, while talking to the suspect, was shot in the back of the head by a second looter. According to a police spokesman, the officer is expected to recover [32].

It was rumored that inmates at the Orleans Parish prison had rioted and attempted to escape, and taken hostages, among them a deputy, his wife and children, whom he brought to ride out the storm. ABC reported this, quoting an official source [33], but Ted Koppel, on the Nightline broadcast of August 30, characterized it as having been only a rumor. State Corrections Secretary Richard Stalder later stated during a press conference on August 31 that "We cannot find any credible intelligence that the kinds of things that had been reported have happened" [34].

In Biloxi, looters picked through slot machines of damaged casinos to see if they still had coins inside.

In an interview on WDSU Tulane hospital spokeswoman Karen Troyer Caraway said efforts were underway to evacuate the Tulane University Medical Center hospital because of power failures and rising water but that the effort was hampered due to looters. Caraway reported that looters in boats with guns had attempted to loot the hospital and were repelled by hospital staff. The looters ransacked staff and patient cars in the parking lot and overturned numerous medical emergency vehicles.

The increasing looting and civil disturbance is hampering hospital evacuations throughout New Orleans. "If we don't have the federal presence in New Orleans tonight at dark, it will no longer be safe to be there, hospital or no hospital," Acadian Ambulance Services chief executive officer Richard Zuschlag told CNN. Spokeswoman Julie Mahfouz of the New Orleans Children's Hospital stated personnel have been victims of the looting and mayhem across the city. [35]

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered 1,500 New Orleans police officers to abandon the search and rescue effort Wednesday evening to address the increasingly violent looting ocurring within New Orleans. The order effectively redirects all New Orleans officers from the search and rescue efforts. An Associated Press report quotes Ray Nagin as saying, "[The looters] are starting to get closer to heavily populated areas — hotels, hospitals, and we're going to stop it right now." [36]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina#Looting_and_civil_disturbance

[Kuciwalker]

Why can't I edit your post?