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Gov Jindal: National Guard to Stay in New Orleans till end of Year

by René | June 19, 2008 at 12:31 pm | 285 views | add comment

Did you know the Louisiana National Guard still patrols in New Orleans three years after Katrina?

by The Times-Picayune

Thursday June 19, 2008, 8:11 AM

Gov. Bobby Jindal is expected to make an announcement today about whether or not the National Guard will remain in New Orleans beyond this summer.

The governor will join Mayor Ray Nagin, New Orleans Police Superintendent Warren Riley and Major Gen. Bennett Landreneau, the adjutant general of the Louisiana National Guard, at a noon press conference at the New Orleans Police Department Headquarters, 715 S. Broad St.

Guard troops have helped to patrol New Orleans streets since June 2006, when former Gov. Kathleen Blanco ordered 300 members of the Guard into the city after a rash of killings.

In May, during "New Orleans Day" in Baton Rouge, Nagin and City Council members requested that Jindal extend the National Guard's assignment in New Orleans.

Locals I have talked to recently still want the National Guard here and claim crime rose rapidly in areas they have stopped patrolling.

It has.

UPDATE: National Guard will stay in New Orleans till at least the end of the Year! 360 now patrol, number will be gradually reduced to 200.