When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, emergency responders from both public and private sectors were eager to respond within hours. The failure was not with the individuals on the ground ready to help, but rather, it was with management. All levels of government failed the people of New Orleans, from the President on down to Mayor Ray Nagin. No one would make a decision, and this cost hundreds of lives and millions of dollars in additional damage.
In disaster situations – real disasters – the bureaucracy always finds a way to make a difficult task even harder.
Our inability to depend on the very officials we’ve elected to help us when it really counts is the very reason why the idea of taking personal responsibility for oneself during a SHTF emergency sounds so appealing.
If only every city could have forward looking leaders like Sherriff Larry Deen, who recently launched “Operation Exodus”, a program designed to prepare his city for what the Shreveport Times calls an end-of-the-world scenario:
The Bossier Parish sheriff’s office is launching a program called “Operation Exodus,” a policing plan for an end-of-the-world scenario involving a mostly white group of ex-police volunteers and a .50-caliber machine gun, inspired in part from the Book of Exodus in the Bible.
“The buck stops with Larry Deen,” said Bossier Parish Sheriff Larry Deen. “The liability stops with Larry Deen. I am the chief law enforcement officer in this parish, and it is incumbent upon me protect all of the people in it.”
Deen said he had been formulating a plan to protect Bossier Parish’s vital resources, like food and gasoline, in the event of a catastrophic event, such as war or a terrorist attack. Deen said he had been thinking of the plan since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
—
Under the plan, these volunteers, supplemented with active public safety personnel, will be dispatched to vital areas in Bossier to protect them from looters or rioters. Deen listed as examples food inside grocery stores and gasoline in gasoline stations, not to mention protecting hospitals and other public meeting places.
Bossier City’s head crime fighter is being proactive, not reactive. “War-gaming” these types of scenarios in a local community will certainly save lives and help to mitigate the confusion and chaos that will inevitably ensue if such an emergency event were to occur.
Sheriff Deen has identified several focal points for prepping Bossier City, including food reserves and gas. Though not mentioned in the article, we’d venture a guess that they may also be looking at reserve power systems, local communications and evacuation plans.
Like any good preparedness plan, getting down to the individual level is critical. If your community, like Bossier City, is preparing for potential emergencies by protecting food and gas, we’d suggest that each individual family consider doing the same – and then some.
If your community is not preparing, and your elected officials are clueless about the potential dangers of natural and man-made disasters, then it all falls on you. If the worst-case becomes actuality don’t expect help from local emergency responders – because there will not be any.
Betterfor them to come and open up the National guard Armouries and hand out weapons to the people to defend themselves !
wish he was my sheriff in galveston county tx. I just read an article somewhere titled: know your sheriff.
I need someone to protect me from Sheriff Deen; he and his vigilante mob represent the real threat to our safety and culture. He has formed a squad of good old WHITE boys to shoot whoever they decide needs to be shot in the event of an emergency.
Is this man crazy? How can he imagine he has the legal authority to mount a machine gun on a vehicle and arm a militia of what sound like Klan members to “protect” us?
you can bet your ass that this nutcase won’t be passing out any of the supplies he and his klan buddies are “guarding”.  You need a plan to do three things for you:
1.   feed and water you and your family and pets
2.   protect you from looters AND the local “authorities” (who will most probably be trying to move you to some camp, leaving all your gear and animals behind to be looted and shot).
3.   keep your house warm and refrigerators going, if only on a generator.
When Katrina happened, many of the “looters” who were shot were starving or thirsty people looking for food or water.  Bush and Cheney decided to allow the use of deadly force against these folks, and said so on national tv.  Make no mistake, in a big time disaster, you are on your own, and the local (and national) authorities are a threat to you.  This idiot sheriff is a case in point.
I wonder how many of these militia men are black? White people are doing whatever they want without question! Black people have no representation in media, congress or the senate! People around the world can see the reaction to America’s Black President! The National Media (ABC_CBS_NBC_FOX) are all telling the news from a white point of view. The media tears down
the Democrats while, the Republicans say no…no…no to everything and, the cowardly media says nothing!!
It’s hard being a black man in America but, it always has been…what else is new…??????
Rather than assuming you know what this man represents and what his motives are why don’t you call up his office and find out. Not all southerners all racist Klansmen. WTF??
And quit whining about being black and picked on. Enough already! There are plenty of black men who are fed up with being pushed around by big brother and are taking it upon themselves to do something about it. There are many black men who have joined Oath Keepers or an unorganized militia or some other non racist group and are now starting to organize themselves so when the SHTF they are prepared and not just sitting around blaming the government or the whitey. Think for yourself and quit blaming everyone else.
Check out this video of a black man standing up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bew_9GeuGA4&feature=player_embedded
The better plan would be as stated above is to arm the people and promote firearm ownership if you are trying to prevent crime in a situation like Katrina. The problem in that situation was the government itself. Blackwater thugs and police went around disarming people, leaving them at the mercy of criminals. You can bet these “deputies” will do the same thing all over again. They will confiscate guns then like the corrupt New Orleans police will be along side the rest of the criminals looting, killing and raping. Race will play very little in an emergency like katrina, in situations like that the police will look out for the police and no one else. They will shoot and kill regardless of color.