Text size:

New Orleans police chief resigns

BY JOHN RILEY | STAFF CORRESPONDENT

September 28, 2005

NEW ORLEANS - Police Chief Eddie Compass, the up-from-the-ranks cop who became one of the public faces of the Katrina disaster here as his police force was shredded by desertions and his city careened out of control, resigned his post yesterday.

The resignation came shortly after the police department announced that it was beginning disciplinary investigations of 250 members of the 1,700-person police force for leaving their posts during Katrina, but Compass gave no hint of a connection between that probe and his decision at a news conference with Mayor C. Ray Nagin.

"I served this department for 26 years and have taken it through some of the toughest times of its history," Compass said. "Every man in a leadership position must know when it's time to hand over the reins. I'll be going on in another direction that God has for me."

Compass did not give a reason for quitting. He said he wanted to be "left alone," and he and Nagin did not answer questions about whether he was pressured to resign. But the resignation came after a month in which the chief's soulful face seemed to reflect a man who was overwhelmed and deeply stressed by the catastrophe.

In addition to the desertions, two officers who were friends committed suicide in the chaos after Katrina, and other officers have been accused of looting. Compass himself made assertions - such as passing along reports that babies were being raped in the Superdome - that have not yet been corroborated.

He also said in interviews that he was stressed because his wife was eight months pregnant when Katrina hit, and got counseling from TV therapist Dr. Phil to deal with feelings of guilt.

"Dr. Phil gave me an opportunity to be in private with him and get a lot of these emotions inside of me out," he said Sept. 10. "Because I can't really show emotion because I'm the leader, and if my troops see me break down, they may break down."

On the streets of New Orleans, most yesterday described Compass as the latest victim of Katrina and said the change in leadership would hurt morale of both police and the public.

Some police officers, who declined to be quoted by name, praised Compass as a cop's cop who carried his patrolman's badge even after he became chief. "Shocked and disappointed," said one officer, sipping coffee at a Salvation Army trailer.