NEW ORLEANS — More than a week ago, police Superintendent Warren Riley issued an unusual order — he gave all the city’s 1,485 officers paid time off to get their families to safety.
It was a lesson learned from the bitter experience of Hurricane Katrina, when dozens of officers were roundly criticized for abandoning their posts.
Many officers who left said the storm forced them to make an agonizing choice: Take care of strangers or take care of your family.
This time around, the department was doing all it could to make sure that officers had enough of a chance to do both, well ahead of Gustav’s landfall.
“It’s a double-edged sword, and it’s either your co-workers or your family,” said Officer Carolyn Dalton. “And I will choose my family every time.”
Dalton, who stood by her post during Katrina, said she won’t fault the choice that others made three years ago.
“It’s only so much a human being can take,” she said.
