Order Out Of Chaos

Ed Bradley Speaks With New Orleans Police Chief Compass

(CBS)  That day, they were going after people who needed to be evacuated, driving through ruined neighborhoods, past submerged cars and downed power lines. Everything was silent except for the noise from the engine -- and the occasional sound of a helicopter hovering overhead.

Their destination was Mid City, a leafy neighborhood of quaint single-family houses that today is flooded by a thick toxic soup. The rescuers went to pick up stranded people but were not sure they would be willing to leave.

At 842 Olga Street, they found a family who were persuaded to leave. One of them had a cut that had to be treated immediately to prevent infection. A few blocks away, they found another family: A retired cop, his wife and two other people who had taken refuge in their home. They said a woman cross the street also wanted to be evacuated.

It was the first time any of them had been out of their homes since the hurricane and the first time they had seen the destruction it had caused to their city. The sight was sobering.

City officials have been criticized for not doing enough early on to evacuate New Orleans. Hundreds of school buses sit swamped where they have been since before the storm hit. Could they have been put to better use?

Says Compass, "You know, we did everything humanly possible we could to evacuate as many people as possible. But many people just waited too late. They did not heed the mayor's warning."

And did the mayor say, "If you can't get out, here are buses that will take you out, and this is where you should go"?

Replies the chief, "He gave the location where different buses were gonna be ready to-- you know, evacuated people. But you have to understand, this is a big city. And there's only so many buses. So it was really people’s responsibility to get with their neighbors. Neighbors to knock on doors. He encouraged them to do these things. There were police officers out in the streets patrolling with bullhorns, with – lights and sirens on going door to door. I mean it was – every resource that we had was utilized as optimum efficiency to get people out of here."

Now that most people are out of the city, the police are starting to deal with their own problems and with their own losses.

"That's one reason I try to be so upbeat," explains Compass. "That's why I think it's so important for them to see me, for me to interact with them on a daily basis. To keep their spirits up. To keep their spirits high.

"You know, I mean, I love the men and women in this police department… I can't even emphasize that enough. You know, they are my family. We are family. This is not a police department. This is a family."

And most of that family is homeless: 80 percent of the men and women of the New Orleans Police Department lost everything. Lt. David Benelli is one of the lucky ones. He is the head of the city’s sex crimes division and when he came home after the storm, he was surprised at what he saw.

He recalls, "I turned the corner, and I saw a couple of trees in the yard. But then when I saw, you know, these skinny pine trees still up, and I saw that the roof was still on, and I went in my backyard and I saw tiki torches still sticking in the backyard, and I go in my house, and there wasn't any water damage, I felt blessed."

So blessed, that Benelli and his wife, Becky, a sergeant in the crime lab, opened up their house to homeless cops. They call it Camp Benelli.
How many people stay at their house?

"It started off at 24," says Benelle. "I mean, withstand the hurricane. We withstand the flood. And I'm sure that 24 people can withstand living under the same roof. You know, we cook. You know, everybody's got their little jobs. Go to work, come home.

"You know," he adds with a laugh, "only thing we can't do is look at a football game 'cause there's no TV."

But despite the camaraderie, each one is still hurting. Capt. Tami Brissett lost her house. Officer Chana Pichon had just located her mother but was still searching for her son, her father and her brother. Darrell Gordon’s wife and three kids were in Baton Rouge en route to Houston.

Says Gordon, "I had 'em in a hotel that was costing me $70 a day. And now they're about to move to Houston so my kids can go to school and my wife can get an apartment, and I have to stay here and do my job."

He says he'll never move to Houston, saying of New Orleans: "This is my city. This is my job. I'm gonna do my job."

What do they think about their brother and sister officers who didn't stay as they did?

Says Brissett, "They were not the police. They weren't part of the family. They abandoned not only us, their brothers and sisters; they abandoned the citizens of New Orleans."

Gordon adds that it's a job that from the heart: "If you don't have this, you can't do the job."

That “job,” according to the motto of the New Orleans police, is "to protect and serve." The cops 60 Minutes met this week believe they lived up to it.

Says Benelli, "They didn't lose their -- their loyalty. They didn't lose their bravery. They didn't lose their spirit. Because the true men and women of the New Orleans Police Department kept this city viable, kept this city alive for six days that it was under siege by hurricane and flood.

"Every police officer has a story. Every police officer that stayed and worked and protected life is a hero. It's because of the human spirit, and it's because of the likes of these officers that are sitting around here today."