Bad guys out and about

Sharpshooter needed: Back in the summer of 2007 when a rash of robberies plagued the Lower French Quarter and Marigny Triangle, Lt. Eddie Selby, chief of the 8th District's detectives, mounted a squad of undercover cops to hunt down the bad guys. On the second night out, they cornered a suspect at Chartres and Gov. Nicholls streets. The miscreant went for the .40-caliber Glock in his waistband. One of the cops was quicker and plugged the guy in the side with one shot.

Lt. Selby was practically remorseful when he learned that the suspect, 18-year-old Vincent Beverly, might be paralyzed for life.

Not to worry, Eddie. The judge set the punk free, he recovered from his wound, and has resumed his life of crime.

Earlier this month, Beverly was arrested with 3 of his New Orleans buddies after a bank robbery in St. Charles Parish; he's in jail there on $250,000 bond. Last year in May he pled guilty to 2 counts of dealing marijuana and was sentenced to 5 years in prison, which Judge Arthur Hunter Jr. suspended.

After the shooting, Beverly was charged with armed robbery for an incident in the 1200 block of Bourbon Street, a simple robbery, and aggravated assault upon a peace officer with a firearm. The armed robbery charge was dropped by the district attorney. Beverly pled guilty to the other 2 charges and was given a 7-year suspended sentence by Judge Camille Buras, with only the first 6 months served as home incarceration. After that he was free to roam.

Remember, sharpshooters cut down on recidivism.

Bike bandit out and about: 8th District cops were pretty sure they had finally caught the "Bike Bandit" who had been targeting women in the French Quarter and CBD when they arrested Craig Hayes, 18, last month.

The "Bike Bandit" was notorious for swooping down on women and snatching their purses as he rode by on his bicycle. Though there were numerous cases, Hayes was charged with only one count of pursesnatching for an incident in the 900 block of Royal Street around 9 p.m. on 4.16.10.

He was being held in OPP on a $15,000 bond set by Magistrate Marie Bookman until Judge Laurie White intervened and allowed the bond to be reduced to $5,000 with the remaining $10,000 as a personal surety. Hayes was back on the street on 5.4.10.

The police do note that there have been no more ride-by robberies since his apprehension.

How'd he get out?: Hard to figure how Darrell Jenkins Jr. got back out on the street. In January, Judge Julian Parker sentenced him to 10 years "at hard labor"..."without benefit of probation, parole or suspension" after Jenkins pled guilty to armed robbery. But on 5.4.10 comes notice that Jenkins has been released from Orleans Parish Jail.

The judge did give him credit for time served, but Jenkins, 20, had only been locked up since 9.11.09 after he was arrested for carjacking a guy at Dumaine and Royal streets.

The judge also ordered Jenkins to enroll in a drug rehab program while in jail and "any self-help program" he's eligible for. But surely you don't build 10-years worth of "good time" in 4 months.

One robber caught, others on the loose: On Monday (5.24.10) 8th District detectives put the pieces together and charged Curtis Andrews, 19, for a robbery almost a week earlier.

He is suspected of stealing the backpack of a Hispanic man he had met earlier in a bar as the victim walked in the 800 block of Iberville Street (between Bourbon and Dauphine streets) around 11:15 p.m. on 5.18.10.

Andrews was in Central Lockup since Saturday (5.22.10) on other theft-related charges.

• Sunday (5.23.10) 3:50 a.m.: Another Chatty Cathy (or a Texting Tammy) had her iPhone grabbed from her hand by a black guy while she was standing in the 600 block of Dauphine Street (between St. Peter and Toulouse streets).

The victim, a white woman, described him as 18 to 20 years old, 5'9" tall, weighing 180 pounds, with a medium build and dreadlocks, wearing a dark-colored T-shirt.

• Friday (5.14.10) 3:30 a.m.: Two black thugs tried to rob a black man and a Hispanic man walking in the 900 block of Chartres Street (by Jackson Square). One of the would-be robbers pulled a gun and demanded the victims money. The victims initially complied, but then struggled with their assailants and ran them off.

The crooks fled down Chartres to Dumaine Street, turning toward N. Rampart Street. Both were described as 20 to 25 years old, about 6' tall, weighing 160 pounds, one with shoulder-length dreadlocks and wearing a white T-shirt and khaki shorts, and the other with short hair, wearing a black T-shirt and black shorts.

Young punks attack: A white woman walking near Cleveland Avenue and S. Liberty Street in the CBD around 5:25 p.m. on 5.18.10 was approached by 3 young black boys who asked for change. She refused and an argument ensued as the victim walked away from the boys. She then felt a small object hit her in the back of the head and she turned around to see one of the boys holding a pellet gun in his hand.

The boys fled but cops responding to the victim's call caught one of the boys, with the pellet gun still in his hand. Because he is a juvenile (under 17 years old), police are not releasing the little darling's name.

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As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome at NOcrimeline@gmail.com

Thom Kahler

A new day dawns

Welcome to the inner sanctum: In a move ordained by new NOPD Superintendant Ronal Serpas, the weekly Comsat meeting of each NOPD district now welcomes citizens to see what the police are doing to catch the crooks.

Maj. Edwin Hosli, commander of the 8th District (French Quarter, CBD, Marigny Triangle) sent out an open invitation to citizens to attend the meetings, which will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday (5.18.10) at the Omni Royal Orleans, 621 St. Louis St., to accommodate the additional crowd.

Unlike the monthly NONPAC meetings (held the 2nd Thursday of each month at Maison Dupuy Hotel, 1001 Toulouse St., at 6 p.m.) where citizens can quiz district officers on what's happening in their neighborhoods, at the Comstat (which stands for "computer statistics") meetings, citizens will only be able to observe the proceedings and not comment. Officers will review the crimes in the district in the past week and decide what strategies should be employed and where manpower should be deployed.

All mapped out: Beginning today, the 8th District is making its daily crime map available to the public at its e-mail blast website in the "files" section.

The map will be released Monday through Friday updated with the crimes occurring in the past 24 hours, showing the location, time, and nature of the crime in a box linked to an icon on the map. Starting at 12 a.m. Sunday new crimes will be added daily through 12 p.m. Saturday each week.

Maj. Hosli cautions the icons are added based on raw data. "For example," he said, "so far this year we are reporting 180 auto thefts. Detectives have been able determine through investigation that 59 vehicles were not stolen from the 8th District; the vehicles were towed, misplaced, or redirected to the correct district of occurrence. Although a report was written and an icon was placed on the map, the crime actual did not happen."

Draining Bourbon Street: 8th District cops apprehended a suspect early this morning (5.17.10) after he allegedly swiped money from the hand of a patron of the Bourbon Pub, 801 Bourbon St. (corner of St. Ann Street), around 6 a.m.

Eric Sellers, 45, was booked at Central Lockup for simple robbery at 9:30 a.m. today (5.17.10). He is being held on $15,000 bond.

It's not known if he's suspected in a rash of other robberies on Bourbon over the weekend and in the past week:

• Sunday (5.16.10) 10:58 p.m.: A white woman walking in the 600 block of Bourbon Street (between St. Peter and Toulouse streets) had her cellphone snatched from her hand by a black guy who fled on foot on Toulouse toward N. Rampart Street.

He was described as 5'8" tall, weighing 150 pounds, with shoulder-length dreads, wearing a white T-shirt and brown shorts.

• Friday (5.14.10) 9:35 p.m.: A white guy walking in the 1100 block of Bourbon Street (between Ursulines and Gov. Nicholls streets) had his wallet lifted from his pocket by a black punk who fled on foot down Bourbon toward Esplanade Avenue.

He was described at 5'9" tall, weighing 160 pounds, with a slim build and short hair.

A week ago on Sunday (5.9.10) around 3:05 a.m., 2 white couples walking in the 1200 block of Bourbon Street (between Gov. Nicholls and Barracks streets) were robbed by a black dude armed with a pistol. They turned over their money to him and he fled on Barracks toward N. Rampart Street.

The 8th District has released a computer composite (right) of the robber who was described as 22 to 26 years old, 6' tall, weighing 165 pounds, with shoulder-length dreadlocks, wearing a white T-shirt and dark pants.

They came armed: Armed robbers took advantage of 2 more pedestrians in the past week:

• Sunday (5.16.10) 2:30 a.m.: A white man walking near Burgundy and St. Louis streets was robbed by 2 black dudes, one of whom was armed and demanded his money. The duo fled on foot on St. Louis toward N. Rampart Street.

Both were described as 20 to 25 years old, about 6' tall, weighing 180 pounds, both with short hair, one wearing a white T-shirt and red shorts and the other dressed in all dark-colored clothing.

• Sunday (5.9.10) 4:30 a.m.: A white woman was held up by a knife-wielding black hoodlum in the 1700 block of Pauger Street (between N. Rampart Street and St. Claude Avenue in the Marigny Triangle). Though he made off with all her dough, she apparently wasn't too traumatized by the incident since she didn't report it to police until 2 days later.

The robber was described as 5'9" tall, with a medium build, clean shaven, wearing a black T-shirt, black shorts, and a black bandana.

Another Jindal pal in the news: Seth Dawson, 45, whom Gov. Bobby Jindal appointed to the Louisiana Police Commission, was arrested at Harrah's Casino early Wednesday (5.12.10) morning after nearly getting into a gunfight with a security guard there.

Around 1 a.m., he returned to the casino after he'd been asked to leave by security guards. He allegedly pulled a pistol and threatened the guard. Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff's deputies on the scene made the arrest.

Dawson was charged with felony aggravated assault upon a police officer with a firearm and 5 misdemeanor charges: disturbing the peace (drunk), simple battery, remaining in a place after forbidden, illegal carrying a weapon, and violence toward/resisting an officer.

He was released from jail the next day on $55,000 bond.

A private matter: A pair of black dudes who had just left a private party at Michaul's Restaurant, 840 St. Charles Ave., at 2:42 a.m. Sunday (5.16.10) heard gunshots and then realized they'd been shot.

They were taken by private car to the hospital where they were listed in stable condition. They told police they were unable to give a description of the shooters.

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As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome at NOcrimeline@gmail.com

Thom Kahler

Serpas outlines his plans

In case you missed Ronal Serpas' remarks after he was sworn in Tuesday (5.11.10) as New Orleans' new police chief, here's what he said he would do to make the city safe again:

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"Mister Mayor, members of the council, members of the search committee, distinguished guests, friends, family and the men and women of the New Orleans Police Department…in the words of Satchmo, “I know what it means to miss New Orleans!"

Thank you for this opportunity, and this challenge, to come home and serve again. Nine years ago we were called away–today we have been called home.

As I reflected upon the words of Mayor Landrieu’s inaugural speech, his vision and understanding of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead is clear. His words should lift us all, both the community and those of us in the New Orleans Police Department who serve with pride and dignity. 'There is nothing broken that cannot be fixed. No problem here that cannot be solved.'

Today I call upon each member of the New Orleans Police Department to reflect upon why you chose to serve in the most noble profession on the planet. Today I call upon each of you to lift up your spirit, to renew your dedication and to reconnect with the emotions that ran deep in your heart and soul when you chose to join...when you chose to serve. Make no mistake–we are here to serve and I look forward to our service together.

Today we rededicate the New Orleans Police Department and all of its members to the call to serve our community. Today we remind ourselves that it is community first. Today we reaffirm our commitment to one another to pursue valor and determination–professionalism and accountability.

Today we call upon all the neighborhoods and communities of New Orleans to help us to serve. We, the police, have always been and always will be an extension of you, the community we serve. In our earliest days we stood as watchman together for one another. Over time and history we created police departments to stand watch for us all. It is time to reconnect the two: as we stand watch for you, we will together watch over one another.

Today we know that there are many challenges that face us, but also know that we can build upon our successes, one step at a time. We must remember that each time we are called to assist, each time we confront crime and the horrible hold it has upon our friends, families, businesses and guests, that we have the opportunity to make a difference.

Making a difference every day is what policing is all about. Being there when a motorist is stranded, working hand in hand with our communities every day to take back our streets so that children, parents and grandparents can enjoy their front yards.

Or, as my grandparents would say, play on the “neutral ground,” or to walk along the “banquette,” never forgetting to stop at the “curbin” before crossing the street. As any New Orleanian knows, it is not North, South, East and West...it is Uptown, Downtown, River and Lake. We must and we will win back every neighborhood, one street at a time from all four points on the New Orleans compass.

Our recipe will be simple and straightforward; we will use the community policing philosophy as implemented through decentralized district-based commands to fully implement our crimefighting and quality-of-life initiatives.

Our first priority, every day, will be to relentlessly, legally and professionally pursue those who would do violence. Beginning tomorrow, I will convene a conference call of district commanders as well as the homicide and sex crimes commanders to get a full briefing on the prior 24 hours of any violent crime in our city. The briefing by these commanders will focus not on what crime happened–it will focus on what do we know, what have we done and what will we do about those crimes.

To those who choose violence in our city, let there be no mistake about this: we will not rest, we will not waver, we will not lose focus, and we will not blink.

Community policing provides for individualized police service throughout the diverse communities of New Orleans. All neighborhoods are not the same; each neighborhood deserves a police response tailored to its needs–that is what community policing is.

Community policing provides the framework for prioritized problem solving with our neighborhoods, as well as a direct accountability link between the New Orleans Police Department and the community itself.

Community policing ties this all together. The outcomes of our partnership and problem solving must be relentlessly followed up by the leadership of our police department to ensure the entire New Orleans Police Department is focused.

Building communities is perfectly matched to community policing principles. When people are safe they enjoy their neighborhood and become more safe. When people are safe, they use our schools. When people are safe, they boost our economy.

To accomplish our goals, we will instill three basic principles in our daily service to this great city: Accountability, Transparency and Collaboration. It is my expectation and my promise that the application of these three principles will allow us to fix what is broken, to restore public confidence in the New Orleans Police Department and make this city safe.

ACCOUNTABILITY
My expectation of service by our team is also as simple and straightforward: truthfulness and ethical behavior–there will be no tolerance for deviation.

Professional treatment of our citizens in every encounter, be it a call for service, a warrant to be served, an arrest to be made or a vehicle stop to be conducted, throughout this community. This same courteous and professional behavior will be equally expected with our partners in the District Attorney’s office, throughout the criminal justice system, and with one another. This is our basic duty and it is non-negotiable.

We will expect no less than a full day’s effort each and every day. One superintendent cannot do it alone, we will require and expect supervisors to supervise, which ensures our team is accountable for its actions or inactions.

Our Public Integrity Bureau and department will reflect and respect the joint efforts of the city's Inspector General and the independent police monitor.

We will build and strengthen our partnerships with the FBI and U.S. Attorney to seek out and prosecute corrupt officers.

TRANSPARENCY
It is true that we cannot have enough sunlight and candor. I unequivocally support the call by Mayor Landrieu to the Department of Justice and look forward to working hand in hand with Federal authorities.

Our weekly Comstat meetings will be open to the public beginning next week. Likewise, district commanders are also instructed to open their weekly Comstat meetings to the public and other partners in their crime fighting and community building efforts.

It is just plain right to include any and all who want to witness the tremendous effort, dedication and focus of our leadership teams and the officers and staff they represent as they work to make our city safe.

We want to document an accurate crime rate as our first priority. Nationwide 50% of crime is unreported; in Nashville we achieved through our efforts the public reporting approximately 80% of crime. We will build and strengthen our partnerships with the FBI and U.S. Attorney to seek out and prosecute corrupt officers. We must restore our citizens' trust and confidence to report crime.

Our measure of success is day to day, month to month, and year to year and we must work every day to achieve that success.

I will call for an immediate audit of our crime reporting mechanisms by state and federal authorities.

I will call for an immediate partnership with educational institutions to evaluate our computer systems that capture and report our crime data.

We will immediately reevaluate the training of officers and supervisors in preparing police investigative reports and the proper classifying of those crime reports.

We will immediately being crafting and implementing monthly audit systems.

We will open for public inspection and regular review our crime reporting systems and data by external parties.

COLLABORATION
Collaborating and cooperating with the people of New Orleans is everyone’s responsibility and it starts with me.

Collaborating and cooperating with the criminal justice system at the local, state and federal levels is everyone’s responsibility and it starts with me.

Collaborating and cooperating with the political systems, local, state and federal is everyone’s responsibility and it starts with me.

Collaborating and cooperating with the media is everyone’s responsibility and it starts with me.

As we look to the future, I know that many challenges remain. But, working hand and hand with all of our communities and neighborhoods, we can make a difference.
As we look to the future, I know that there are countless dedicated professional men and women of the New Orleans Police Department, and working hand in hand we will make a difference.

Mr. Mayor: My family and I have returned...we have come home to New Orleans because we believe its best days are ahead and we want to be part of that future! Thank you, and this city, for the opportunities our home provides."

Superintendent Ronal W. Serpas

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As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome at NOcrimeline@gmail.com

Thom Kahler

New era at NOPD

New chief sworn in: Ronal Serpas was sworn in this afternoon as the new superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department, heralding an end to 8 years of lackadaisical law enforcement that made New Orleans the most unsafe city in the U.S.

His record of reducing crime wherever he's gone should give every citizen of this city reason for optimism that our streets will once again be safe to walk at any hour. He served notice on criminals that there was a new sheriff in town, so to speak: "Violent crime is a our No. 1 issue and we're going to be on it like a dog on a bone," he told those at the swearing-in ceremony at Gallier Hall.

As we reported a couple of weeks ago, we expected Mitch Landrieu to name Serpas the new chief of the New Orleans Police Department before he took office as mayor last Monday (5.3.10). He did just that, calling and offering Serpas the job a few days after our report.

Landrieu waited to announce the appointment until last Thursday (5.6.10), apparently after getting the feds on board to straighten out the woeful department. It'll be much the same situation Serpas faced in 1996 when he took over as chief of operations of the NOPD and the department was under the watchful eye of the FBI in the wake of corruption among the rank and file.

NOcrimeline first suggested Serpas as an ideal candidate for police chief 18 months ago if Mayor Nagin wanted to man up and get rid of the useless Big Chief Riley.

More information now?: When I first proposed the concept of NOcrimeline a little over 3 years ago to Maj. Edwin Hosli, who had just taken over as commander of the 8th District, he was receptive. But he wanted to run it by 2 people first: his boss, Chief of Operations Anthony Cannatella, and his best friend, Ronal Serpas, who was then the police chief of Nashville.

Serpas told him he thought it was a great idea, that the more information you can give the citizenry the better. Neither he nor Cannatella saw anything wrong with sharing the C-log reports that are the substance of the weekly Comstat meetings of the district commanders. In remarks after his swearing in yesterday as police chief, Serpas announced that all Comstat meetings, where the NOPD's top brass plot strategies against crime, will be open to the public and the media.

(Former chief Warren Riley, by contrast, was terrified the public would know what the NOPD was doing--perhaps because it was doing so damn little. Maj. Hosli was fully cooperative with NOcrimeline until Riley put the kibosh on giving us PDF files of all police reports and a daily copy of the crime map for the district. Perhaps Serpas' influence will allow that procedure to resume, giving citizens the information they need to avoid becoming a victim of crime.)

It would be splendid to see him turn the department-wide job of public information over to now-interim Chief Marlon Defillo, who handled the job with aplomb before he was dragged into the chief's office. Get rid of the half dozen or so seat warmers in the Public Information Office who supply little info to the public and let them go be cops again.

And if you want the district commanders to develop more rapport with the citizens of their districts, let them be the ones to go on camera and before reporters to tell what's happening in their bailiwicks, rather than have it filtered through officers from other departments who too often seem ill informed.

Deputy chiefs?: It would be nice to see Serpas lure back some of the bright stars who left the NOPD in frustration under Riley and to dig others out of the darkest recesses of the NOPD where Riley hid them because he feared their challenge to his weak grip on power.

Who are we talking about?

• How about Louis Dabdoub for one? He was one of 6 finalist for chief, showing how bright he is, although he'd never been a chief before. He was an outstanding leader when he was commander of the 2nd District (Uptown) and then the 8th District (French Quarter) before being exiled to the 4th District (Algiers) when he insisted on enforcing laws then-chief Eddie Compass told him not to. Dabdoub is now manager of corporate security for Entergy and probably would have to take a cut in pay to rejoin the NOPD.

• Danny Lawless, a former deputy chief under Compass who is now heads the Tulane University police force, and is well thought of by NOPD officers and the public.

• Eddie Compass himself. He's not chief material (as we all learned) but he was widely respected in the NOPD as an expert in community policing. Pennington named him commander of the 1st District (Treme and Iberville Projects) in the mid-90's when it was the one district that seemed to be untamable. Compass tamed it with creative strategies. He now heads the Recovery School District's police contingent.

The missing who are buried somewhere in the bureaucracy of the NOPD so their stars wouldn't shine to bright and show how dim Riley was:

• Capt. Jeff Winn, a former district commander and head of the SWAT team;

• Capt. Tim Bayard, once a district commander and head of the vice crimes/narcotics section;

• Capt. Harry Mendoza, former head of the SWAT team and traffic division commander.

All 3 were instrumental in holding the NOPD together after Katrina, when no high ranking officials could be found to command.

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As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome at NOcrimeline@gmail.com

Thom Kahler

Only working weekends?

The economy to blame?: Is the economy that bad--or good--that the bad guys now only ply their trade on the weekends in the French Quarter and surrounding environs? It would seem so, based on the crime reports we've had the last 2 weeks--all occurred on the weekend.

• Sunday (5.9.10) 3:05 a.m.: 2 white couples walking in the 1200 block of Bourbon Street (between Gov. Nicholls and Barracks streets) were robbed by a black dude armed with a pistol. They turned over their money to him and he fled on Barracks toward N. Rampart Street.

The robber was described as 22 to 26 years old, 6' tall, weighing 165 pounds, with shoulder-length dreadlocks, wearing a white T-shirt and dark pants.

• Saturday (5.8.10) 5:15 a.m.: 4 white men walking in the 900 block of Kerlerec Street (between Burgundy and Dauphine streets) were robbed at gunpoint by 3 black punks who made off with their money.

The robbers were only described as being 18 to 20 years old.

• Saturday (5.1.10) 2:15 a.m.: A white woman walking alone in the 2100 block of N. Rampart Street (between Frenchmen Street and Elysian Fields Avenue) was robbed by a knife-wielding black thug.

He was described as 18 to 25 years old, 6' tall, with a thin build, and shoulder-length dreadlocks.

Still stealing phones: The cellphone bandits are still targeting iPhones from distracted phoneheads:

• Saturday (5.8.10) 2:43 a.m.: 2 white guys walking near Dauphine and St. Louis streets were attacked from behind and knocked to the ground by 3 black thugs. The crooks took one of the victim's cellphones from his pocket before fleeing on St. Louis toward N. Rampart Street.

One thief was described as 18 to 26 years old, 5'5" tall, with a muscular build, wearing a blue and white striped shirt; the second was 19 to 20 years old, 5'10" tall, with a slim build, wearing khaki pants; the third was 6'1" tall, with a slim build, wearing a blue baseball cap.

• Sunday (5.2.10) 4:30 a.m.: A white man walking in the 600 block of Frenchmen Street (between Royal and Chartres streets, in the heart of the music district) had his cellphone grabbed from his hand as he was using it by a black thief who fled on foot up Royal toward Esplanade Avenue.

The victim was unable to give a complete description of the assailant to the police--perhaps due to the hour and the proximity of so many bars.

Other quick hits: Not all robbers were after phones, some would settle for money:

• Monday (5.10.10) 4:00 a.m.: A white man walking in the 200 block of Carondelet Street (between Common and Gravier streets in the CBD) was jumped from behind by 3 black goons who knocked him to the ground. They took the money from the victim's pockets and fled toward Howard Street.

The victim was unable to give a detailed description of the robbers.

• Saturday (5.8.10) 3:18 a.m.: A lone white woman walking in the 800 block of Elysian Fields Avenue (between Burgundy and Dauphine streets) had her purse snatched from her shoulder by a black punk who fled on foot down Dauphine into the Marigny.

He was described as 5'9" tall, weighing 150 pounds, wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans.

• Sunday (5.2.10) 5:23 a.m.: A white man walking near Dauphine and Toulouse streets was approached by 3 black hoodlums, one of whom struck him and demanded his money. The robbers told the money from the victim's pockets and fled on foot up Dauphine toward St. Louis Street.

One robber was described as 5'10" tall, with dreadlocks, wearing a dark polo shirt; the second was 5'10" tall, with a medium build; the third was 6' tall, wearing a gray tank top and dark pants.

• Sunday (5.2.10) 4:45 a.m.: A white guy walking in the 700 block of Esplanade Avenue (between Bourbon and Royal streets) was approached by 3 black thugs, one of whom struck him in the head, knocking him to the ground (where have we heard this modus operandi before?). The robbers cleaned the victim's pockets of cash and fled on foot up Royal toward Canal Street.

All 3 robbers were wearing black shirts with white letters (isn't it nice to belong to a club?) and dark jeans. One was described as 5'8" tall, with a thin build; the second was 6'4" tall; and the third was not described other than his identical outfit.

What's going on here? : The common threads in all the crimes above are:

• all occurred between midnight and dawn, which questions the wisdom of being out and running around town--except if you're a tourist and can't do that at home, or if you're a bar owner and recognize how lucrative those hours are;

• all the victims were white folks and all the robbers were black, which makes you wonder what would happen if black folks were being assaulted at all hours of the night by white folks--can you imagine the hue and cry of racism?

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As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome at NOcrimeline@gmail.com

Thom Kahler

Phone it in

Yakitty-yak: It's tempting to say they got what they had coming to them, but no one deserves to be robbed--even if they are yakking on their cellphone rather than paying attention to the world around them.

After a string of at least 4 cellphone thefts last weekend, 8th District cops finally managed to apprehend a young black boy on Monday who appears to be linked to all the robberies.

But because the little scofflaw is a juvenile under 16 years old, we'll never know what happens to him for these crimes. We'll have to wait until he turns professional when he turns 17 and continues his life of crime.

Here's his latest string of offenses:

• Friday (4.23.10) 1:09 a.m.: A white woman walking near Esplanade Avenue and Decatur street had her cellphone grabbed from her hand by a black boy. He took off on foot on Esplanade toward Elysian Fields Avenue.

He was described as 5'11" tall, weighing 145 pounds, with pulled back braided hair, and wearing all dark-colored clothing.

• Friday (4.23.10) 3:00 a.m.: Less than 2 hours later, another white woman walking in the 600 block of Frenchmen Street--in the heart of the music scene--had her cellphone snatched from her hand. The black boy who did it fled on foot up Frenchmen toward Esplanade.

He was described at 5'11" tall, weighing 150 pounds.

• Saturday (4.24.10) 11:05 p.m.: The next night, he went into the CBD and grabbed a cellphone from a black woman in the 200 block of Baronne Street (a block the other side of Canal Street between Common and Gravier streets) before fleeing on Barrone to Union Street to Carondelet Street.

He was described as 5'11" tall, with a thin build, in his early 20's, with shoulder-length dreadlocks.

• Monday (4.26.10) 2:42 a.m.: After taking Sunday off for good behavior (I doubt it) the young hooligan resumed his reign of terror, which turned out to be his undoing. He yanked the cellphone from the hand of a white man standing in the 100 block of Bourbon Street near Canal Street and took off running on Canal to Dauphine Street, turning toward Esplanade.

This is when the cops caught up with him and threw him in the slammer.

Now, how about rounding up the boy's mama and putting the shackles on her too? She's the one who let her baby boy run wild on the streets--and what did she think when all those cellphones began showing up in her house?

The other question is: In all this time, didn't a single cop notice a black boy who was clearly young enough to be violating curfew running around right under their noses? Put down your cellphones, guys, and pay attention.

But it never ends: You'd think after arresting that black boy early Monday morning for a string of crimes you'd get a breather. Not so.

• Monday (4.26.10) 11:15 p.m.: That night a white woman walking in the 500 block of Decatur Street (between St. Louis and Toulouse streets) had her purse (with a phone in it?) snatched by a black boy. He fled on foot down Toulouse toward N. Rampart Street.

She described him as 5'9" tall, weighing 165 pounds, and wearing a white T-shirt and dark pants.

Another arrest: Earlier in the week, cops arrested another black dude for a pursesnatching on Wednesday (4.21.10). A white woman was walking in the CBD on Common Street near Carondelet when a black guy, accompanied by his girlfriend, grabbed her purse from her shoulder and fled in separate directions.

Police apprehended Terrell Pierce, 19, and Iesha Mark, 22. Pierce was charged with pursesnatching. Mark was initially booked as being a principal to pursesnatching, but those charges were apparently dismissed since she doesn't appear in any court records.

Pierce was free at the time of this crime on a $3,500 bond set by Judge Robin Pittman after he was charged with burglary of an inhabited dwelling. He is now being held in OPP on a $25,000 bond for the pursesnatching charge.

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As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome at NOcrimeline@gmail.com

Thom Kahler