RISING VIOLENT CRIME IN THE AFTERMATH OF HURRICANE KATRINA WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2007 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, Washington, D.C. The Committee met, Pursuant to notice, at 10:49 a.m., in room SD-226, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Patrick J. Leahy, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. Present: Senators Leahy, Cardin, and Specter. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. PATRICK J. LEAHY, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF VERMONT Chairman LEAHY. Good morning. I should note to begin with that I really appreciate the witnesses who have flown up here. I always appreciate the senior Senator from Louisiana, Senator Landrieu, and, of course, Senator Vitter being here. But they were in town, and I should just note that one of the reasons this hearing was somewhat delayed this morning is that a lot of the witnesses who were coming in last night arrived today. As we know, when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and the Gulf Coast nearly 2 years ago, no one knew the extent of the devastation or how long it would take to recover from this tragedy. One thing we do know is that the Federal Government's emergency response was inadequate, uncoordinated, and left far too many to suffer far too long after the storm. What we are now going to examine is not so much all the mistakes that were made in the response by the Department of Homeland Security and others, but we are going to examine the latest challenge to recovery from Katrina— the growing crisis of violent crime in the city of New Orleans. Violent crime in New Orleans has reached near-epidemic proportions. It has emerged as the most serious threat to its recovery since the storm. In the first 3 months of this year, violent crime is up more than 100 percent compared to the same time last year. New Orleans has lost nearly half its population since the storm, but the number of murders, armed robberies, and assaults are on track to match totals from before Katrina. In the last 10 days, there have been eight more murders, bringing the total this year alone to more than 90. The murder rate per capita is now the highest in America, more than 20 percent higher than in any other major city. At its current rate, New Orleans has 12 times as many homicides as New York City, 3 times as many as Philadelphia, and twice as many as (1) Washington, D.C. The crisis is so severe that National Guardsmen and State police have been brought in to patrol the streets. The criminal justice system was battered by Katrina. We know that. It is now strained to the breaking point. The New Orleans Police Department has lost more than 500 active police officers since the storm, and that is roughly, I believe, 30 percent of the force. The courts, the prosecutors, and police often work out of temporary facilities. Only 4 of 11 jail facilities in the city have been reopened, and, in some cases, temporary FEMA facilities are even used to house inmates. In its weakened condition, the criminal justice system has struggled to keep order and bring justice to offenders. Last year, there were more than 160 murders in the city, and so far only one murder case has led to a conviction. Let me emphasize that. One of these 160 murders has led to a conviction. And the problem is not unique to murder cases. In more than 3,000 criminal cases last year, the charges had to be dismissed and suspects released, at least temporarily, where in many cases indictments could not be brought within 60 days, as required by Louisiana law. The overall conviction rate is among the lowest in the country. There can be no question that restoring order and security to the streets of New Orleans must be among our highest priorities in the rebuilding effort for Louisiana and the Gulf Region. Unfortunately, the response of the administration to this crisis has been too little, too late. And while the administration has written a blank check for the war in Iraq, a blank check for the police departments in Iraq and so on, it cannot seem to find the necessary support for those who need it in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast here at home. I would like to see the same amount of attention given to crises at home as crises in Baghdad. Two weeks ago, Attorney General Gonzales announced a new violent crime program in response to the second year of FBI statistics showing violent crime is increasing. A great announcement, nice press conference, beautiful pictures. They must have spent a fortune on getting the posters and all to go with it. But it included no money at all for new State or local police officers on our streets. The COPS program has been cut out to send money to the police departments in Baghdad. And, regrettably, Attorney General Gonzales failed to even mention the violent crime problem in New Orleans, even though it is one of the worst in this Nation. Over the last 6 years the administration has abandoned any commitment to the COPS program even though in the 1990s it was the model for reducing violent crime to historical lows in this country. Again, we will send money to police forces in Iraq, Iraqi police departments, which tend to end up just killing each other, but we cut out the money for police departments in America. So far the largest response to rising violent crime in New Orleans has come at the insistence of Congress, not the administration. In particular, it has come from the leadership of Senator Mary Landrieu, one of the witnesses we will hear from. We welcome her and her colleague from Louisiana, Senator Vitter. In January of this year, Senator Landrieu announced a 10-point plan to combat violent crime in the region. She laid out a road map to restore the criminal justice system in New Orleans and Louisiana by giving help directly to those who need it most. It is a clear road map for success in battling violent crime in cities such as New Orleans. Congress must continue to lead on this issue if the administration will not. Senator Landrieu, I want to thank you. You have helped to provide $50 million for law enforcement reconstruction in Louisiana as part of the supplemental bill just signed into law this month. So let us hope we can send the signal that we can fight violent crime in this country by working cooperatively with State and local law enforcement partners. Then we can bring back the vitality and pride of one of our Nation's greatest treasures-the city of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region—and make it a secure and prosperous home for all its citizens. [The prepared statement of Senator Leahy appears as a submission for the record.] Senator Specter? STATEMENT OF HON. ARLEN SPECTER, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA Senator SPECTER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank you, Senator Leahy, for scheduling this hearing on this problem in New Orleans. The Federal Government has responded, not as promptly or as adequately as we should have, but I have had many conversations with Senator Landrieu about this subject in the Appropriations Subcommittee which I chaired last year, and also with Senator Vitter. We have been trying to be helpful. And I think to focus attention on the law enforcement problem is very, very important and very timely. It is always difficult to find additional resources, but the Federal Government really ought to step in, in an area like this to help out when there has been such a disastrous calamity in the area. I have been talking to United States Attorney Letten about what has happened, and I am pleased to hear-informally we talked about it before the hearing started-that there have been some supplemental prosecutors assigned from other areas. I think that is highly desirable, and I think more of that can be done. We have an enormous Justice Department, a lot of U.S. Attorneys in our cadre, and that can be done. I was in the prosecution line at one time and had a big office and loaned people. We had a big murder in Pennsylvania many years ago, Yablonski and his wife and daughter. It goes back to 1969, a small county in Pennsylvania, Washington County, and I loaned a group of prosecutors to go and help out. So there is a lot of precedent for doing that. I regret, Mr. Chairman, that I am unable to stay. We are very heavily engaged in immigration at the moment and trying to work through the final stages of an agreed list of amendments. But Senator Sessions has indicated his intention to come, so I hope we will be represented on this side of the aisle. But I will be following the testimony closely with staff and will cooperate in being as helpful as I can. Thank you. Chairman LEAHY. Thank you very much, Senator Specter. Senator Specter and I first knew each other, incidentally, in Louisiana when we were both prosecutors. There are days when we think that was the better job of the two. Senator Cardin, did you want to say something before we start? Senator SPECTER. Were you at the DAs convention in New Orleans in 1971? Chairman LEAHY. Actually, I was. That was the time when I got locked out of Senator SPECTER. What was that? Chairman LEAHY. We will talk about that after. [Laughter.] Senator LANDRIEU. And we need you both back. Senator SPECTER. I was just regaling U.S. Attorney Letten. Your DA was Jim— Mr. LETTEN. Jim Garrison. Chairman LEAHY. Garrison. Senator SPECTER. I try to forget that name. I was one of the young lawyers on the Warren Commission staff, and DA Jim Garrison had a different view of the matter. Chairman LEAHY. He locked us out of one of the buildings. Senator SPECTER. Without detailing that, he opened up the convention with a press conference lambasting the Warren Commission, and the Board of the National DAS Association criticized him for criticizing the Commission. And when the Saturday night banquet came, we came to this beautiful hotel Chairman LEAHY. It was locked. Senator SPECTER.-for the festive occasion and we were- Senator LANDRIEU. Please do not hold that against us. Chairman LEAHY. It gets even worse. It gets even worse. At that meeting I got elected Treasury of the National District Attorneys Association, and they said, "By the way, there is this very large advance we gave to the District Attorney's Office in New Orleans for that banquet. State's Attorney Leahy, would you please get that money back?" We eventually wrote it off. Senator SPECTER. I was glad we were only locked out. He was locking up a lot of people. [Laughter.] Senator SPECTER. Promiscuously. Senator LANDRIEU. It could have been worse. Chairman LEAHY. He was then succeeded by Harry Connick. Mr. LETTEN. Yes, sir, he was, in 1974. Chairman LEAHY. And that is when I first-not that he would remember it. I met his son, who was just a little child. Go ahead. Sorry. STATEMENT OF HON. BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF MARYLAND Senator CARDIN. Mr. Chairman, I am very much interested in the history here and your role in all of this. I thank you, though, for holding this hearing. Senator Landrieu and Senator Vitter had some of us down to New Orleans not too long ago where we could see firsthand the impact that the storms have had on the life of people in New Orleans and Louisiana, and I tell you, until you have been down there and you see firsthand the problems. I must tell you, I am pleased we are having this hearing, because as I read the back-up material for the hearing, I do not think most people realize the challenges that you have in law enforcement. Obviously, the effect of the storm presented additional challenges for law enforcement as far as neighborhoods and support systems. But when you realize also that your jails were destroyed in many instances, that the people that were responsible for law enforcement, not only the police officers but those in the prosecutors' offices and in the defense attorneys' offices were dislocated, it makes it a real challenge for how the judicial system can operate and how you can maintain the rule of law and law and order within the community. Obviously, the focus was more on displaced individuals and rebuilding the levees and all these other issues, but the challenges that you confront are certainly daunting, and I am glad that we are having this hearing to see how the Federal Government could be more helpful in restoring the type of system that is necessary for the people of New Orleans. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. STATEMENT OF HON. MARY L. LANDRIEU, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF LOUISIANA Senator LANDRIEU. I thank you, Mr. Chairman, and members of the Committee and the Ranking Member for what you have done to date. And I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for focusing this hearing on what we need to continue to do as we look to the future. Thank you for inviting me and Senator Vitter to testify. The disturbing and crippling increase in criminal activity has overwhelmed the city of New Orleans and parts of the region since Katrina and Rita and the unprecedented catastrophic flood that ensued when the levees broke in and around the city. I would like to welcome our constituents U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, Judge David Bell, Police Commissioner Anthony Cannatella, and Bob Stellingworth, who has really stepped up as president of the New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation, for helping to organize a community-wide and broad effort to help with this situation. In 2006, over 160 murders occurred throughout the city of New Orleans, giving the city the ominous distinction of being the city with the most murders per capita in the United States. In fact, the 2006 homicide rate in New Orleans is 31 percent higher than any city with the next highest rate. It has been heart-breaking, every murder has been heart-breaking for the families, and it has spread fear in our community. But, Mr. Chairman, this past January the situation in New Orleans emerged as a kind of crisis that shook the very core and foundation of our community. On the morning of January 4th, a home intruder shot and killed Helen Hill, a local film maker, and severely wounded her husband, Paul. Paul was a physician who had come to the city to establish a medical clinic in the heart of the city to treat the city's poor and uninsured. |