Thugs Next Door; The 5th District Chronicles
I have written here, on more than few occasions, about the difficulties with my neighbors, the 5th District Police Headquarters. I have complained about the off duty cops driving the wrong way up a one way street, and about the noise factor as they party in the parking lot, whenever they change shifts or whatever it is that makes them come outside and blast the stereos. I have talked to them personally and pleaded for understanding and neighborly behavior, all to no avail.
Today, about 6pm, two officers hung out by their cruiser, making noises that resembled video game gun shots,  through their patrol car’s PA system. It was so loud it rattled my windows. That lovely experience of a nice Fall day, and open windows, was crushed as they began to blast Bad Boys, the theme from the TV show COPS, at ear splitting volume.
I was out side on my balcony, and during a brief break in the music, I shouted for their attention. “Is that really necessary?” I yelled.
The officer outside the car looked directly at me, and pulled out his hand gun. He removed the clip, and set it on the hood of the cruiser. Then he checked the barrel for a round ( I guess there was none) and, still staring at me, began to pull back the slide and pull the trigger, releasing it, over and over, to the music.
I find this to be disturbing and threatening behavior.
I wrote the following eamil to 5th Dsitrict Commander Bernadette Kelly, with a CC: to Arnie Fielkow, Jackie Clarkson and James Carter. Commander Kelly has responded with concern and promised an effort to get to the bottom of things. Mr. Filekow has responded, saying that if true, these events can not be allowed to stand.
The officer in question knows exactly who I am, what I look like and where I live. I am not kidding when I say I fear for my safety. An on duty police officer who will brandish his weapon, even empty, in response to a noise complaint (what the hell were they doing that for, anyway?) might become much more dangerous, say after dark and a weeks’ suspension.
Should I turn up with a toe tag, I want somebody out there to know why.
My email follows:
Dear Commander Kelly;
([email protected])
My name is David, and we’ve met at many of the Nonpac meetings at your station
house. I live across the parking lot from you, as do several other tenants in
the building.
I was one of many who were more than happy to see the 5th District relocate to
the Universal Building. Unfortunately, some issues have gotten out of hand.
I have asked many times, over the phone and at meetings there, that the
officers in the parking lot be aware that there are a dozen or so tenants with
doors and windows facing that lot. Yet the noise level, at all hours mind you,
has only gotten worse. From ‘testing’ sirens at 2am to the blasting of car
stereos at 11:30 pm. They have actually backed the car in to the corner and
opened the trunk, to make it louder, like they were tailgating at a game.
Today, at about 5:45 pm, two officers were using the car PA system to make
‘shooting’ noises, and blast the theme from ‘COPS” ( bad boys) over the PA
system. During a break in the noise, I asked them if it was really necessary.
The officer already out of the car, looked at me, and then the music came back
on., He then took out his pistol, pulled the clip, and set it on the hood, then
pulling back the slide and releasing it over and over to the Theme Song.
What is that supposed to mean? Is it a threat? Are they just playing cop and
playing with their guns to amuse themselves? Is it necessary to do this at such
loud volumes? Are we, as neighbors to be ignored by gun waving people with
blasting car stereos? How is this different than the public nuisance they are
supposed to be controlling?
Who does one call when the loud, armed, delinquent neighbors ARE the police?
There is also the issue of the one way Street I live on. Spain Street runs
towards the river from St Claude Avenue. Yet cars come out of the 5th District
lot entrance on Spain, and head the wrong way on to St Claude, many times a day.
In the beginning, it seemed to be patrol cars in hurry to get somewhere. Then
it became a common occurrence. Now, officers do this when out of uniform and in
their private vehicles, coming and going. This happens off and on around the
clock.
I have had to screech to a halt when entering Spain Street from St Claude,
because a private vehicle was coming the wrong way, and fast. This happens with
alrming frequency.
Two days ago, one patrol car was on the way out, and one on the way in, when
they stopped, driver’s window to driver’s window, and completely blocked the
intersection for over five minutes. I could not hear the conversation, but I did
hear intermittent laughter, as if jokes were being told.
Were any of the neighbors to behave in such a manner, we would certainly be
ticketed or arrested. Yet this goes on unchecked, and is getting worse.
I mentioned it to you, and to Lt Rattler on more then one occasion, going back
over six months. Lt. Rattler discussed putting an end to this behavior when he
attended our anticrime meeting, just after Wendy Byrne was shot, last winter. So
far, there has been no discernable improvement, in fact, quite the opposite.
I suggest to you that this sort of ‘We do what we want’ attitude from the local
police, an open flaunting of disregard of the law, gives the impression that
those who have the guns do as they please.
Is this the message you wish to send to the neighborhood kids?
To the neighbors around you?
That the Police can break laws we must obey, whether they are on duty or off?
That they can blast their music day & night without concern for those who live
and work on these blocks?
That any complaint is to be answered by the suggestive cleaning of a gun?
Why is a trained police professional cleaning his gun in an open parking lot in
the first place?
Finally, I came home from work the other day, to have a man in prison uniform,
standing on the 5th District drive way on to Rampart St. ask me for a cigarette.
I refused to answer. He then began calling out to a passing girl on a bicycle to
‘come one over’. She fled.
Why are inmates, trustee or otherwise, wandering around in the parking lot,
hooting at girls and begging for cigarettes?
Is this evidence of the safety level to be expected in the 5th District?
While I would love to hear that these issues will be dealt with, I’ve heard it
before. What would be great to hear is the reasonable respect that a
neighborhood can expect from the police officers that their tax dollars pay to
employ, rather then the thug behavior of indolent neighbors.
best regards,
David
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david, this is disturbing to say the least. can you video them? can’t help but think if they saw you doing this it might catch their attention.
send it to one of those watchdogs over at WWL or WVUE..
My thoughts exactly. You don’t even need to be there. Find the spot with the most activity, set the camera up and put it on auto.
I think the point here is that the officer started his gun juggling AFTER he saw & heard me complain.
It was rather obviously directed at me.
A camera is not going to instigate that.
Commander Kelly has emailed me several times about this.
I’ll keep the information coming.
As to catching their other shennanigans on tape, I would need cameras all around the 5th District building, as there are too many to capture with just one perspective.
I hope that this calms things down with them. I am certainly not above calling every news agency in town. Considering the news reports of recent daylight robberies in the Marigny, the pump is already primed, so to speak.
Besides, it’s difficult to arrange my own ‘crime cameras’ when I’m still saving up to pay my Entergy bill. Especially ones that actually work.
I cannot imagine more terrifying & dangerous neighbors than the brutal bastards of the NOPD. Be safe, dude.
http://neworleans.indymedia.org/news/2009/10/14416.php
Now see? This is what happens, nearly every time I try to make someone in authority take responsibility for managing their shit.
Somebody comes and stands with me and starts spouting lunatic crap.
The all credibility is lost and we’re both branded as ‘trouble makers’, when in truth, I’m actually trying to patriotically use the laws of the constitution to deal with flaws in society, and someone else is letting me do all the heavy lifting while they steal trees out of Lafayette Park.
Dear Mister Le Bloc;
I read the page attached to your link. Oh, my goodness but you’re riled up. Rather than outlandish claims that Press Kabacoff is a “quadrillionaire” and the outright falsehood that “he invites in a fucking NOPD SUBSTATION to enjoy an indefinite stay, rent-free…”, along with a list of names of people you claim were killed by the NOPD, without any backstory at all, perhapos you might answer a simple question…
When we’ve done away with the police completely, as you suggest, who do we call when some crackhead is beating his girl friend to death in the apartment next door? You?
Or do we run in ourselves, guns blazing or ball bats swinging, to find out it’s just a movie on the TV, just as they open fire on us…
I remember being young and oh, so angry at everything. Right around the time I decided to get a job, instead of ranting in a squat, and my still ranting friends consumed everything I bought without offering a simple “Thank you, Comrade”, I realized the Revolution didn’t live there anymore.
These were jusy crazy dead beats with anti social tendencies.
Fuck.
That.
Shit.
If you want to warn me about The Cops, please tell me how you manage to stay so safe, being the only secret agent who knows the details of these police murders, and why you haven’t done anything about it. Couldn’t find the right tree to tear up?
I’ve spoken frequently and recently wiht Sallie Ann Glassman, Vodou Mambo of the Bywater, Trained in Haiti. She’s the one opening the Healing Center, Doctor Know-it-all, and she’s doing it with actual 501(c)3 non profit status.
For such revolutionaries, I’d think you’d like to see spiritual healing, Reiki, yoga, cheap and safe child care, wholistic medicine on a sliding scale for the poor and unemployed, organic food co-op, etc.
Just because Pres Kabacoff owns the building doesn’t mean it’s his baby. In fact, my discussions informed me that without the healing center, none of the necessary components would have come in to line.
The artists I know who live at Evil Emporer Kabacoof’s Art Lofts, in the Bywater, are very happy to have living & working space, as wel;l as facilities to show their work, at cheap rents. In fact, some have been refused for having too much oncome. So much for Pres’ Gentrification Theory.
You might turn your all seeing eye on Sean Cummings, who actually runs the City Riverfront Development and has been buying up Bywater property for years, to make a shady killing.
Of course, I don’t know what tree you’d tear up for that, either.
Best of luck with all of that.
But when I’m talking to grown-ups, especially ones waving guns, or say, on the City Council, fr’instance, don’t help me.
In fact, don’t stand near me.
No, not even that close.
Over there.
Yeah.
Just past Marion Barry & Michael Richards.
David,
Shoot me an email regarding you post please. I think I can help.
Mike
I’m with David on this one Le Bloc, its easy to jump up and down having histrionics with nothing to back them up. It’s easy to run off at the mouth about horrible, unsubstantiated events. That is why I have little time for most self styled activists. It’s most often about personal ego and reflexive, unthinking statements that have little reasearch or consideration behind them. Don’t object, LD has just shown how little actual content you have to work with there. You hurt your “cause” far more than you help it.
Take a cue from LD, actions and writing like the post above are why he was invite to join the team here on HC. I know its very hip to rant about “the man,” but are you man enough to actually get engaged ad do something other than create an internet based rep for yourself?
But when I’m talking to grown-ups, especially ones waving guns, or say, on the City Council, fr’instance, don’t help me.
+ 1 for LD. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think folks like that were straight up saboteurs.
lol, “doing something” vs. “building internet rep”… I don’t recognize whoever it is you’re lashing out at. I have no use for personal drama, and likewise no desire for validation. I’m not here to prove anything about myself to anyone, nor hold myself up as an example. I’d rather build bridges.
It seems to me like a couple of y’all have your hearts in the right place, but if you’d rather be oppositional and angrily try to school me… well hey… this is your li’l cyber sand-castle. If posting my opinions and trying to draw attention to actions y’all might not otherwise be aware of accomplishes nothing more than disrupting humidcity’s circular back-patting and drawing personal fire based on… I don’t even know what… then it’s correct to say I am hurting my cause. I am hurting my cause by wasting time that would be better spent elsewhere.
So no, I (personally) don’t call the cops, but rather than brag about it, I’ll answer your question with a question: what the fuck have NOPD ever done to help someone beaten to death by a crackhead? Ever? Let’s play out your little scenario: Someone’s hurting someone else. Are you suggesting calling NOPD and sitting back to wait for them to come intervene is MORE EFFECTIVE than intervening personally?
and I very much value the work humidcity has done in exposing Sean Cummings, but Kabacoff’s no angel either… but I’ll save that for a later time and maybe a diferent venue. this is already pretty long.
There are articles in NOLA’s mainstream media every week about the dirt NOPD does. Do you talk to your neighbors? It’s no secret, no “lunatic crap.” I don’t know what further evidence y’all need.
Adolph Grimes III is dead, that’s verifiable. He was shot by agents of the state, that’s verifiable. I’d say it’s on his killers to justify their action, and substantiate THEIR claims. How long will we wait for… who… to tell us what to think about it? Or do you trust the NOPD’s findings on the matter? Are the NOPD only “thugs” when they annoy you, not when they callously kill people? Seeing as officers of NOPD are SERVING TIME for a couple of the murders listed on that tombstone…
…ah never mind, you aren’t interested in the facts; those are uncomfortable. Much easier to take a jaded “seen there been that” posture and use it as an excuse for inaction or even complicity. Angrily assert that an arbitrary standard of evidence hasn’t been attained, live in denial, and go about your business.
You’re the boss of your life… heaven knows. Continue in denial about NOPD even as the cops bully you in your clubhouse. Cry to some other branches of government about it, seek redress there… I assure you, you’re far more of a joke to them than the “activists” you scoff at.
If you can’t see the bullying and cowboyism the NOPD expresses towards you as part of a continuum that includes some of the worst police brutality in North America, then there’s nothing more to say
except
Bad Boys…
Bad Boys.
Whatcha gonna do?
Whatcha gonna do
when they come
for
YOU??
Wow, looks like Riley will be putting himself up for a raise, afterall, his claims that crime has decreased in the gen’l population is because his own band of thugs in uniform are the perps now. THE HELL!???! It’s time to clean out the creeps who are NOT fulfilling the oath behind the badge – and their bossman. Whereas the shining example of actually being worth the academy – the officer in the story about the noose being found at the McKenna who was exceptionally distraught about such a wretched occurrence and wants to get to the bottom of it. More like her, please?
Damn, LD, please be careful – that can’t be a comfortable posish, but definitely get the press on it.
Hugs!
@ Le Bloc;
First, let me apologize for referencing the recent ‘mail storm’ with D-Block, here on humidcity.
http://humidcity.com/?p=2561
It would be arrogant to assume that any reader or writer were familair with our tiny universe. My bad, seriously. I should have linked it then. There ends any symapthy.
It was during this discussion about the ‘symbolic’ cutting down of tree to show dissent for the now dead reign of B.W. Bush, that I began to get fed up with ‘Internet Anarchy’, so to speak.
First of all, unless you’re pirating power of someone esles’ grid and hacking into a nother pwersaon’s wifi, you’re supporting the whole system that ‘off the grid anarchy’ stand against.
If you are doing all that other stuff, then you’re just a sponge. I couldn’t say, I don’t know you.
What I do knowe is that you’re back with more innuendo and supposition. Anyone could say “Kabacoff’s no angel either… but I’ll save that for a later time ” and insert anyone’s name. There are no facts, documents, links, witnesses or evidence.
Just some guy with a keyboard and an alias calling some one else an evil menace and a crook.
Isn’t that what they do at Tea Bagger Parties? Different guys, maybe, but same technique. It’s pure innuendo, which is a cowardly version of slander.
Same with your claims of NOPD murder. JIm Letton is in town and investigating this. Why haven’t you called him?
I certainly contacted City Hall (Only Arnie Fielkow has responded) about my problem with the 5th District. I gave my name , address & phone number, too. AS weel as descriptions of the cops & vehicle involved. So tell me about standing up, ‘kay?
Your ‘playout’ of the scenerio is also flawed.
What if the neighbors think that YOU’RE the crack head? What if they bust in your dorr and come running in, gunbs drawn, becasue they think you’re up to something and the police no longer exist?
How will that not end badly every fucking time?
The point here is that basic system is not that flawed.
The people using it are.
And they are out numbered.
By WE the People.
And with those organized numbers, I have seen an end to things as large as the Vietnam War, and the Chicken Freezer at the bottom of Esplanade and many, many things in between.
If you want to see the results of destroying the operating system completely and ending all law enforcement, try Afghanistan or Somalia. The largest, meanest, group of men (and that means MEN, ladies) with the best arms become the power structure. Failure to comply is met with genocide.
As to this: “Much easier to take a jaded “seen there been that†posture and use it as an excuse for inaction or even complicity.”
Are you high? I have been writing articles about and appearing on TV about NOPD failure for almost 18 months now. It’s not my fault your building fake gravestones kept you out of the loop.
In fact, this comment, suggesting that I “take a jaded “seen there been that†posture and use it as an excuse for inaction or even complicity” is ludicrous. You wouldn’t have an artricle to comment on were in not for my involvment, subsequent action, and alert to the community through this web site.
You continue with your claims against ‘agents of the state’ wiht out referencing a single article or link, as though you wee wiritn ght lost sea scrolls or something, and then cry about taking a community stand?
Y’know what kid?
Put up or shut up.
If you have evidence of police wrong doing, and you do nothing about it, who the hell are you to tell me I live in denial when i’m the one walking past an armed camp every day with my head high, alerting the media and members of city hall, not to mention your lame ass.
Cry me a revolutionary river.
Or post this secret truth, Mulder.
In the meantime, I’m sorting through mail from the Commander at the 5th district, Council President Fielkow and perhaps WWLTV, as I have to have my shit together before I open my mouth on Monday.
I’d rather be enjoyting this lovely weekend, but hell, I’m in denial about THAT, just as long there’s some asshole waving a gun around,
not only next door to me, but next door to Colton School.
Let me know how your next Halloween Decorations Against Terror go, Mr. Le Bloc.
From Le Bloc:
“…ah never mind, you aren’t interested in the facts; those are uncomfortable. ”
Perhaps it would help if you offered some.
this just on the wire:
Lord David tonight WWL-TV @ 10:00 pm.
make sure you pop your jiffy pop ahead of time for the show.
:)
I hope someone is able to upload it to YouTube, I want to see that spot.
you made your point very clear david.
i don’t think you should (or anyone in the hood) let up.
like the ACDC t. ;)
Well, being on the CBS News was fun. They cut off my head, took most of what I said out of context, put words in my mouth and tried to make me look like a crazed kook. I’m sure glad they aren’t one of those ‘un-truth’ news stations.
Yeah, Bigad Shaban spun my shit like a DJ at an ecstasy party on Ibisa.
At least they could have played ‘Highway to Hell’ in the background.
Lord David – nonetheless, you are a star to us. And be warned, the Krewe of Woohoo will descend up on the Skull Club Sat night. :) Gina, self, Lisa, Charlotte. :)
What’s important here is that the misbehavior has been reported and outed.
When we arrange for public officials, from the Mayor, to the patrol cop, to the President of the United States of America, to be answerable for their actions to WE THE PEOPLE WHO ELECT & EMPLOY THEM, and return to the use of our Constitution & Lawbooks for guidelines, then we have truly become Land of the Free.
It’s about fucking time, ya heard?
Too bad they cut my head off on the TV, though.
My hair looked fabulous.
Good luck man. I wish you the best. However, the police abuse of the rules is part of our system now. You are just one more little person in the way. Be careful. Besides, cops are just hyped up insecurity guards.
@ Mepsipax;
Thanks for your kind words of support.
Your statement that “the police abuse of the rules is part of our system now” is sadly true. Of course, when the highest offices in the city, state, or even country, allow gray areas of law (like torture & graft), it’s bound to corrupt the ideal.
Getting back to zero is so much more difficult than staying the course, no matter what the endeavor.
As for my being “just one more little person in the way”, I always was.
Like a pebble in a shoe. Easliy removed and forgotten about.
But pebble on I must.
Of course, I have to live with myself, too, and I can always recall that in the face of a powerfully bullying, I did not let it stand, nor back down.
I have no intention of doing so, either.
In closing, I suggest that I am no longer just one little person.
All of you who have read this are now aware of the ongoing story, as is everyone who saw the news last night. Thanks for listening.
It is only when monsters are dragged from beneath the bed, and out in to the light, that we see them for the paper tigers that they are.
In Truth, Freedom,
and in Freedom, Truth.
Thanks again.
LD
This is really upsetting to hear. There are so many ways to die in New Orleans, yet the only thing I genuinely fear are the cops. Power combined with incompetence is a recipe for civil liberty abuses galore.
More bad behavior at the 5th District:
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2009/11/new_orleans_police_payroll_abu.html
Sometimes, the crooked cops are getting paid without even being on the job…