BECKY BOHRER,
AP
Monday, January 8, 2007
NEW ORLEANS - With at least eight slayings in the city in the
first week of the new year, officials are considering a curfew
to help stem the violence, the police superintendent said Saturday.
"It's something we're just sort of talking about, to see
if that will make a difference," police Superintendent Warren
Riley said.
Mayor Ray Nagin, meanwhile, urged residents not to leave the
city, still rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina, because of the
recent killings. He said the slayings could be a tipping point
that "galvanizes our community" to find solutions.
Some residents have called for a march on City Hall on Thursday
to demand action to curb the violence.
Nagin and Riley both tried to reassure residents that they were
doing all they can to make the city safer. Riley said some covert
operations were under way and Nagin said he hoped to have details
sometime next week on a "more creative, aggressive"
plan developed in talks he has had with local ministers.
Riley said the slayings are a part of a chronic problem that
goes back to the city's school system and what he sees as the
city's failure, over many years, to adequately educate and provide
job opportunities for residents.
He said he's also concerned about making sure "hard-core
criminals" are prosecuted and kept in jail.
Problems will continue until there are improvements in the criminal
justice system, which has struggled to get court cases moving
again since Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, Riley said.
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