E-mail a friendWarren Riley
airdate December 5, 2005
Warren Riley became New Orleans Police Superintendent in '05. He's a 24-year police vet who ran the department after the departure of the former superintendent. Riley rose through the ranks, serving as assistant commander of community policing and deputy chief of operations during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He grew up in New Orleans' Gert Town neighborhood and has a master's degree in criminal justice. Taking the helm at a troubled time, Riley acknowledged immediate challenges.
Tavis: Warren Riley is a 23-year veteran of the New Orleans Police Department, who one week ago took over as the city's top cop. Prior to that, he served as the department's assistant superintendent, and was a captain in the now decimated fifth district. He joins us tonight from the Crescent City. Chief Riley, nice to have you on the program, sir.
Chief Warren Riley: It's good to be here. Thank you.
Tavis: Congratulations on your new post. I can say congratulations, can't I?
Riley: Yes, you can. Definitely. We have a lot of challenges ahead, but it's still congratulations, yes.
Tavis: All right, that's precisely why I went there, and I'm glad you followed up on it. Let me ask you, never mind being top cop, what's it like being a cop in New Orleans these days?
Riley: Well, it's certainly different than pre-Katrina. Right now our population is down probably about 70%. Still about 70% of the city is powerless. Very little light. It's totally devastated. It's almost a ghost town in a large majority of the city. We still have some crime fighting to do.
We still have looters and burglars, and we still have people that are coming into the city with drugs, as it relates to people that are coming in to do work. So we still have some crime fighting to do, but nothing like we had pre-Katrina.
Tavis: Let me ask you how those conditions challenge policing, when you don't have electricity, when you don't have light, when you don't have all of those basic resources that you're used to having. I mean, if being a crime fighter is tough to begin with, under those conditions how do you make it work?
Riley: Well, how do we make it work is our special operations unit, which is about 50 officers. They go in the unoccupied areas, those areas that have no power or light. They have night vision equipment, so they can see when other people can't see, which puts us at a great advantage. However, in those areas there is very little crime that's actually occurring during the night. The majority of the crime, as I mentioned, that's happening is looting and some burglars, but it is nothing compared to pre-Katrina.
Tavis: I was about to say, I would assume that the crime in New Orleans right now is probably as low as it has been since the city was started, given that there ain't a whole lot of people there to commit crimes.
Riley: You're absolutely right. I think you can probably go back to the 1800s and we still have, the crime today is lower than it was back then. A lot of people don't realize even in the 1800s, New Orleans was one was one of the top five murder places in this country. So even if you go back 100 or so years, or a couple hundred years, our crime today is lower than it was back then.
Tavis: Wow. I assume, though, that - sadly, you expect that number to go back up again as people come back into the city, more crimes will be committed, unfortunately.
Riley: Well, unfortunately that will happen, but not to the degree that it was in the past. We have put things in place. We have created a new criminal intelligence bureau, and their entire focus is on the reoccupation of the city, any known criminals, or any - people that come in and commit crimes.
We have established this unit for that purpose, to follow those criminals, to prioritize them based on their criminal history, to follow them, to put them to bed at night and wake up with them in the morning until we get them off the street. So we are preparing for that type of situation.
Tavis: Let me preface this next question, chief, by telling you and our viewers who know this well, that I love the city of New Orleans, and my heart goes out to everybody there. We want to see this city turn around and be better than before. That said, I'm always fascinated to know why anyone would want to be the top cop in New Orleans, and particularly now. It's a city that's - the police department as you well know, I ain't telling you nothing new, it's been a PR nightmare, a public relations nightmare.
For the drama that the police department has had to endure, some folk had to be disciplined for leaving their post. We know the story of the brother who got beat down in the French Quarter. We saw that video tape everywhere. And long before Katrina, the police department in New Orleans has had investigation after investigation for crime within the department. Why would a guy like you want to be the top cop in New Orleans?
Riley: Well, first I've been here for 24 years. I'm a native New Orleanian. This is the city where I was born and raised, the city that I love. I'm in a unique position, a position to make drastic changes within this department. We have a tainted history obviously, but we also have a very good police department. As you mentioned, with those officers that deserted, that was small part of our force that deserted.
The majority of the men and women here are hard working; they were here throughout Katrina; they saved thousands of lives. We haven't gotten credit for that. So we have a lot of positive things that go on here as well. But to be in this situation as the Chief of Police, give me an opportunity to rebuild this department.
It gives me an opportunity to put in training that we would not have normally had, but because we have, crime is down so low, we have an opportunity to make NOPD the best trained, most professional, most efficient police department in this country. I think you'll see those results within the next couple of years.
Tavis: Let me ask you a couple of questions about your force. Because I'm particularly moved by what your force has had to go through and what they're dealing with now. Talk to me about the number of homes that were lost by your officers. Talk to me about how - what the size of the force is. Talk to me about where these officers are living, given that they lost their homes. Tell me about your force right now.
Riley: Okay. Well, pre-Katrina, we had 1,668 police officers. Right now we have 1,442. Of those 1,442, 890 lost their homes, cars, and pretty much everything they own. Of those 1,448 that we have, 1,100 are living on a cruise ship, a Carnival cruise ship at the foot of the river. A concern of ours is that that ship is scheduled to go. FEMA will stop making payments in March, so at the end of March, we have some serious concerns about where our officers will live.
That's the number one goal that we have. We're working on getting trailers in; we're working with other organizations, like Habitat for Humanity. Hopefully they will get in to assist us with homes. So that is a major, major concern for us. And that is the one thing that could really destroy the morale of this department, that is actually very good, when you consider everything that we've gone through.
Tavis: I wanted to ask you, so I will now. How, to your point, do you keep the morale up? You got folk who have lost everything, you got folk who are living on a cruise ship, don't know where they are going to be living come March, and they are supposed to come to work every day, and protect and serve. How do you keep the morale up under those conditions?
Riley: One of the morale boosters was the fact that the officers asked for a cruise ship, after living in cars and abandoned buildings, sleeping anywhere they could lay their head for the first 11 or 12 days. Some of the officers asked for a ship, we went to the mayor. The ship was here probably within seven days, so the officers had a place to call home. You have to realize, 13, 14 weeks ago, most of our officers had no place to call home; so, that was a big morale booster for us.
That was positive. We'll be a fully uniformed department within the next month and a half. That's another morale booster. How do we keep them going? I think the officers keep themselves going, because they are dedicated to the city. They love being here; they want to be here; they want to be a part of the rebuilding process. So we'll have to see at the end of March what happens. But one thing they do know is that we are working very, very hard to make sure that they have the accommodations that they deserve.
Tavis: Let me ask you right quick, chief, speaking of early next year, what's the plan for Mardi Gras?
Riley: The plan for Mardi Gras right now, instead of our 11 or 12 day Mardi Gras, we will have an eight day Mardi Gras. It will be the first weekend of Mardi Gras, and then the following week, we'll have Thursday through Fat Tuesday, which is Mardi Gras Day. We're focusing on eight hour parades, except for the big weekend.
And the problem with that is that the city doesn't have the overtime. I don't have it in my budget, so we're hoping that some of the crews will come up with some funds, and maybe some corporate sponsors will come up and assist in helping fund that big weekend of Mardi Gras. But right now, we will have Mardi Gras.
Tavis: Well, Chief Warren Riley, I joked earlier, I say it seriously now, congratulations on this new opportunity, on this new assignment, this new challenge. And we will check in with you from time to time to see how things are going, but all the best to you and all the officers there in New Orleans.
Riley: Well, thank you. And thanks for your concern. Appreciate it.
Tavis: Glad to have you on. Chief Warren Riley, the new chief of the NOPD. Up next on this program, actor John Travolta. Stay with us.
Back to December 5, 2005