i guess the new orleans cops are saying that all that stress makes it tough on them and it is ok for them to rob, loot and beat up black grandfathers. too bad they wont give us civilians the same slack. Original Article Unprecedented strain taking its toll on New Orleans police Mary Foster Associated Press Oct. 11, 2005 12:00 AM NEW ORLEANS - Their homes are gone, their families scattered, their reputations sliding by the day. Home for most New Orleans police officers is a cramped cruise ship, and work is 12- to 14-hour days in a wrecked city. When time off does come along, there is nowhere to go and no one to spend it with. Experts say the personal and professional upheaval is catching up with the New Orleans police force in the form of desertions, suicides, corruption and perhaps even the videotaped beating by officers of a 64-year-old man in the French Quarter. "This is unprecedented in our country," said Dr. Howard Osofsky, chairman of psychiatry at the LSU Medical School Health Sciences Department. "There is no disaster that has had the amount of trauma for a department that this has, where so many police officers have lost homes, been separated from their families, had loved ones living in other places with no idea when they'll return." Not even the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 have matched the strain produced by the hurricane and its ensuing rescues, evacuations and searches for the living and dead, said Osofsky, who is working with New Orleans officers and their families. Like about 80 percent of the New Orleans force, 46-year-old Ronald Gillard, a 15-year veteran, lost his house to the storm. But when the winds died down, he was back at work. "We went to the flooded areas and just started rescuing people," he said. "We worked as long as we could, then I slept on the floor in a hotel lobby. We were eating cold food out of cans we found." Gillard called the cruise ship housing a lifesaver, even though police are usually two to a room. "If it wasn't for that, being able to eat a hot meal, having a place to stay, I think I would have lost my mind," he said. When Katrina passed, the department found itself without communications, with officers cut off from each other and headquarters. Lawlessness spread through the city. Rescue workers reported being shot at. Police Superintendent Eddie Compass publicly repeated allegations - later debunked - that people were being beaten and babies raped at the convention center. At least two officers took their own lives in Katrina's aftermath. Compass resigned last month. At the same time, the 1,450-member department said it was investigating nearly 250 officers accused of leaving their posts and 12 suspected of looting or condoning looting.