www.lesswrong.com/posts/cNnRmwzQgz4bmd5i9/your-supplies-probably-won-t-be-stolen...
1 correction found
I had heard post-Katrina New Orleans had a lot of looting, but this was actually rumor.
Reporting after Katrina did exaggerate some crimes, but looting itself was not just a rumor. Official and congressional reports documented real looting in New Orleans after the storm.
Full reasoning
This sentence overcorrects. The contemporaneous Los Angeles Times piece it cites is about false or exaggerated reports of murders, rapes, sniper attacks, and body counts at the Superdome and Convention Center—not about looting never having happened.
Credible official sources say looting did occur after Katrina:
- The White House's 2006 report Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned states that "People began looting in some areas as soon as the storm relented" and that New Orleans police were redirected from search-and-rescue "to respond to the looting."
- The bipartisan House report A Failure of Initiative says police had limited resources "to stop the looting in downtown New Orleans" and adds that "many media reports of violence were substantiated," giving as an example live coverage of looters, including police officers, ransacking a Wal-Mart.
- The cited Los Angeles Times article itself says newspapers and television exaggerated criminal behavior, especially at the Superdome and Convention Center; it does not conclude that post-Katrina looting in New Orleans was merely rumor.
So the accurate version is: some sensational post-Katrina crime stories were false or exaggerated, but looting in New Orleans was real and documented.
3 sources
- Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned - Chapter Four: A Week of Crisis (August 29 - September 5)
The report states: "People began looting in some areas as soon as the storm relented" and says that on August 31 "most of the New Orleans police force was redirected from search and rescue missions to respond to the looting."
- A Failure of Initiative: The Final Report of the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina - Page 247
This congressional report says police had limited resources "to stop the looting in downtown New Orleans" and notes that "many media reports of violence were substantiated," including live coverage of looters, "including police officers, ransacking a local Wal-Mart in New Orleans."
- Katrina Takes a Toll on Truth, News Accuracy - Los Angeles Times
The article says newspapers and television "exaggerated criminal behavior" and discusses discredited reports of rapes, murders, sniper attacks, and inflated body counts at the Superdome and Convention Center; it does not say looting itself was only a rumor.