NOPD - 5th District takes it to the Streets

The video clip shown here was filmed on Thursday night, December 16th, at about midnight, near the intersection of St Roch & Burgundy Streets, in the 5th District. Portions of the video have been briefly blacked out to protect the identity of the Film Photographer. The person who shot this footage (and shall remain anonymous) reported the incident as follows: An NOPD cruiser pulled over a vehicle on St Roch Avenue, and was joined, almost immediately by five other NOPD cruisers, for a total of six patrol cars. Obviously, at least one NOPD officer was in each vehicle (in uniform) and I'm told there may have been seven officers total. The car they pulled over was allowed to leave. For the next 20 to 25 minutes, these same patrol cars, all six of them, remained in the same position on St Roch @ Burgundy, with all of the officers out of their vehicles, talking loudly, laughing, sometimes shouting and, as you'll hear, being rather liberal with their profanity, 'Mother Fucker' being the most popular phrase of choice. Having been awakened by this, the Film Photographer, listened for that 20 - 25 minutes BEFORE beginning to shoot this footage. The incident ended when the officers received another call and went on their way. I am concerned of course, that 'Peace Officers' of the NOPD would hold such a loud, profanity ridden gathering in the street, at midnight, in a residential area, as though they were having a party in someones yard. Further concern is due to snippets of conversation, in which one officer brags about driving without his lights on, headed to a bar, because "fuck it, there ain't no traffic out." What I find truly shocking here is this: Just the night before, a network of local citizens were burning up the phone lines talking about Taylor's home invasion, his girl friend's rape, a rape/kidnapping reported to have taken place on the 8th of this month. I, myself, called the 5th District on the 15th, and got nothing but run around. A week later, Jonathon Hall was murdered by the same thugs who had attacked Taylor & his girlfriend. This is how the investigative patrols looked, as far as we can tell. If there is a reasonable explanation for this behavior, I'd love to hear it. So, it seems as local citizens were struggling to put together some sort of community based crime prevention, and are being shut out by the 5th District, these six patrol cars & six officers on duty and on the clock... are having a party, waking up the neighbors. How much ground can six patrol cars cover in 30 minutes? I'm told that an officers right to use deadly force is when an aggressive suspect gets within 21 feet, as it can be traversed in mere seconds. Think, then, of how much ground could be covered by six automobiles in 30 MINUTES. Then ask yourself, if this is the 5th District 'On Patrol', how much faith do you have in the NOPD when no one can see them at all....