NEW ORLEANS — Three and a half years after Hurricane Katrina, the National Guard is pulling the last of its troops out of New Orleans this weekend.
Residents long distrustful of the city’s police force say they are worried they will have to fend for themselves.
“I don’t know if crime will go up after these guys leave. But I know a lot more of us will be packing our own pieces now to make sure we’re protected,” said Calvin Stewart, owner of a restaurant and store.
New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley said his rebuilt police department is up to the job of protecting the city.
The National Guard troops were welcomed as liberators when they arrived in force about four days after Katrina struck New Orleans in August 2005 and plunged the city into anarchy. The force was eventually 15,000 strong.
The last of the troops were removed in January 2006. But after a surge in bloodshed, 360 were sent back beginning in mid-2006 to help police keep order. As of February, about 100 Guard troops were left in the city.
With Louisiana facing a $341 million budget deficit, state lawmakers were reluctant to keep the Guard in place any longer.
The Guard was used to patrol the less-populated sections of the city where Katrina’s floodwaters left most houses uninhabitable. That included the woeful Ninth Ward.
The Guard will depart at 3 a.m. Sunday. There will be no convoy, no bands playing. The last few Guard troops on the street will check in their vehicles and head home for good.
“I don’t think the city is ready for us to leave,” said Lt. Ronald Brown Jr., who has been part of Task Force Gator since April 2007. “I’d like to see us stay. I think we make a difference, but I guess it’s a money thing.”
