Some New Orleans Police Remain Homeless
PHILLIPS: Well, a bad situation for New Orleans police officers could become much more difficult in the near future. The problems? They're homeless, the city can't pay them any more overtime, and their temporary housing will soon be gone. CNN chief national correspondent John King reports.</s>JOHN KING, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To some, the are the floating post-Katrina boon dock -- $240 million in taxpayer money, spent by FEMA for cruise ships that were often half empty. By, nightfall nowadays, though, they're mostly full. And to New Orleans Police Sergeant Eric Berger, they're home -- and a reminder that nearly four months later, the future of the city and its often maligned police force very much remains in doubt.</s>SERGEANT ERIC BERGER, NEW ORLEANS POLICE: There is nothing for you to do on the boat, but pretty much eat and sleep. It's kind of depressing being on the boat.</s>KING: Tuesday was Sergeant Berger's 18th anniversary with the NOPD. The post-Katrina looting, his most searing memory.</s>BERGER: It was amazing. I mean, this whole meeting was covered with people, just mobs of people just taking whatever they could take in.</s>KING: This was Berger's home. From the outside, it looks okay. But inside, completely gutted.</s>BERGER: I wouldn't touch that if I were you.</s>KING: To visit, is to see firsthand the delays in cleanup, let alone rebuilding. And the challenges for police officers and other first-responders whose jobs require them to stay in the city, still very much a mess.</s>BERGER: It's just crazy to not be able to get straight answers.</s>KING: The city hasn't decided whether homes in this neighborhood should be rebuilt or razed. Berger's insurance company has yet to offer him a settlement. The cruise ships are scheduled to leave 10 weeks from now. And many officers say they are still waiting word on whether they can get FEMA trailers. And this week, two weeks before Christmas, some officers begin getting paychecks with no overtime. City officials blame FEMA, saying federal money for overtime has dried up. FEMA says the police force has not applied for any emergency grants.</s>BERGER: On a regular check, I might take home $1,000 every two weeks, where before that it was probably double that. It was at least -- I'd say it was at least double that. So I'd say salaries have probably been cut in half with the overtime being gone.</s>KING: The force with 1,643 officers strong before Katrina, but has lost more than 300 officers. Many leaving to be with families, forced to live elsewhere. And Veteran SWAT Team Commander Jim Arey predicts a lot more will go unless things change quickly.</s>JIM AREY, VETERAN SWAT TEAM COMMANDER: We're battling with insurance companies, we're battling with the federal government, and we're going to lose a lot of heroes.</s>KING: We first spoke to Arey a few weeks after Katrina. Back then, it was a police department in crisis, facing allegations of looting and desertion. Arey is also a mental health counselor and says morale is worse now.</s>AREY: When I say, hey how you doing? They say, hey doc. I say, how you doing? Do you have a house? 85 percent of the time the answer is no, they don't have a house. It looks like this catastrophe has fallen off the radar screen. And that's frightening.</s>KING: Sergeant Berger vows to bring his wife and two sons back from Texas in January -- even though, halfway through December. When asked where they will live, his only certain answer is not here. John King, CNN, New Orleans.</s>PHILLIPS: Well, religious leaders will be gathering in New Orleans to discuss interfaith relief efforts tomorrow. They will try to figure out how to distribute $20 million collected in the Katrina fund-raising drive chaired by former Presidents Bush and Clinton. Bishop T.D. Jakes is co-chair of the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund Interfaith Coalition. He joins us live now from Dallas, where, of course, as you know, he's the pastor of The Potter's House Church. Good to see you, Bishop.</s>BISHOP T.D. JAKES, CO-CHAIR, BUSH-CLINTON KATRINA FUND INTERFAITH COALITION: Good to see you, also.</s>PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about the Interfaith Coalition and the goal and the mission of this coalition.</s>JAKES: Well, the coalition is really on a fact-finding mission. On Saturday, we're going to be at the Sheraton Hotel on Canal Street at 11:00 tomorrow morning. And we're trying to invite pastors who have been affected adversely by Katrina to do a needs assessment and report back to the Clinton/Bush Katrina Relief Fund how best to execute our plans for relief and rebuilding.</s>PHILLIPS: And talk to me why so it's so important that religious leaders like you and -- and a number of these other bishops and pastors and -- and different types in the religious community get involved in talking about how to distribute that money? What is it that you know about this community and know about these people that could be more effective, vs. some administration official or politician deciding how to distribute the money?</s>JAKES: Well, I -- I think that we were first-responders during the crisis. The church community responded with evacuees in an unprecedented way of not having to plow through the bureaucracy that is traditional with government institutions. We know the people. I myself have relatives in Mississippi and in Alabama. I have 7,000 partners that are connected to our ministry. The pastors that I'm going to be meeting with tomorrow also work with those people. And they know who they are. And they feel the pulse beat of the community. Reverend Gray, who is co-chair, along with me, and was the president of United Negro College Fund, joins with me, along with a plethora of board members, so that we can evaluate firsthand what the needs are. We didn't want to go in and just start allocating funds to where we thought they ought to go. We wanted to hear from the pastors themselves, not only those that are in the Gulf area, but those who have evacuated to other places, but long to come back home. We want to make it possible for them to return and take up their lifestyles that they had before.</s>PHILLIPS: Bishop, tell me what you, your church, the funds from your church, raised from your church, are doing specifically to help New Orleans. And do you feel that the call has been answered with regard to other churches coming forward and, financially and spiritually, supporting New Orleans and the Gulf?</s>JAKES: I have never seen the church do as well as they did during Katrina. Our church was responsible for nearly $2 million worth of resources and finances pumped, not only to New Orleans, but the Gulf area and here in Dallas, working with evacuees. We were able to place 2,000 people into homes and -- and to help them to get readjusted into the Dallas lifestyle. I toured Houston and Dallas and Baton Rouge, assessing the damage that was done there. I have been very, very involved with various faith-based institutions, trying to see how we can solve this problem. But it is not just The Potter's House that's been leading in this way. From mega-churches, to everyday churches, to very small churches have been really out there cooking and feeding and clothing. Eventually, of course, we run out of resources. And that's why I'm glad that the Clinton/Bush Fund has allocated $20 million to this faith aspect of our community. I think it's important also to recognize that there's a disproportionate amount of African-Americans and poor people who normally will not seek counseling, professional counseling and therapy. They tend to look to the church for those resources. And when the s church is down and out themselves, and the pastors are homeless themselves, it creates a disparity for people...</s>PHILLIPS: The -- and...</s>JAKES: ... who are dealing with grief.</s>PHILLIPS: This is a -- this is a -- a great point. This is what I really wanted to talk to you about specifically. And that is, when Katrina hit, more than anything, we saw the underbelly of this nation, and that was poverty, and how the state of Louisiana -- whether it be the state of Louisiana -- Louisiana -- or any of us, the issue of poverty has not been dealt with, especially in this state. So, taking a look at all the money that's coming in, and -- and, as you mention, all the money from the churches as well, how do you tackle, say -- I mean, you're the only voice. The church is the only voice for those that don't have anything, that have -- that didn't have a savings account or were renters in the Lower Ninth Ward, didn't have insurance coverage. So, your funds are -- are essential for these people. How do you bring them back into that city and give them a life and -- and integrate everybody back into that city, to where there is less of a rich vs. poor, and more of an integrated city, where everybody has a chance to come back?</s>JAKES: You know, you hit the nail dead on the head. First of all, the situations that exist in New Orleans are duplicated all over the United States. America has had a tendency to ignore things that we don't want to talk about, like racism, like poverty, like the disparities that exist in our communities. But this really made us have to face those issues and deal with them head on. There are many things that we can do. First of all, we do give a voice to people who have no voice. I have been able to sit with the president and with others and make suggestions and recommendations, to say that this is an issue that really concerns me. We can employ many of these people. We can make sure that they get contracts, as we begin to rebuild the city of New Orleans. We can work with these families to help them to relocate and to accomplish their goals. We can become involved in communities that we normally drive by and ignore, to make sure that they have equal opportunity, access to education, computers and things that you and I may take for granted. We cannot close our eyes any longer to this problem. We have got deal with it. And I think that how we deal with New Orleans and the Gulf area in general will be indicative of how other cities can expect our nation to respond in times of calamity and tragedy.</s>PHILLIPS: And, Bishop, I -- I lived and worked in that city. Of course, you have got family there. You know that city well. A lot of the crime took place in these housing developments. It was -- it was a tough scene in New Orleans. What -- what do you -- how do you feel about public housing, specifically housing developments? Should those come back to New Orleans or should they not come back to New Orleans? And should a different type of housing be created for those that can't afford to buy a nice house in the Garden District?</s>JAKES: You know, I think we really need to look at this. Most of the studies that I have read indicate that, whenever we build these types of housing facilities and start driving around them and ignoring them, not only do we not see them. The police don't like to go into them. They become festered with drugs and -- and depravity and destruction. I think, personally, that one of the great solutions is to develop communities that have moderate- to low-income housing, where people can live amongst other people who are doing better and feeling better. They feel better about themselves and they're able to transform themselves. Poverty is something that is contagious and infectious in our community. And, with it, comes disparity and the crime and the violence that maybe other people wouldn't understand. But I have always said that desperate people do desperate things. You cannot sit in a nice living room with a remote control and say what you would do if you have never been hungry and you have never been distraught.</s>PHILLIPS: Yes, this is an incredible time for this city to start over. You know, the HUD secretary came forward and said one concern that he has, that this city, culturally, it's never going to be as black as it once was. Does that concern you?</s>JAKES: It -- it really concerns me. I think that we have to make sure that a significant part of our history is salvaged, that we make sure that African-Americans are treated fairly. Sixty-seven percent of the population there in New Orleans was African-American. We have to make sure that they have access, not only back to the city, but to jobs and to opportunities, and to make sure that the educational opportunities are brought up to par, as they should be. And I think that -- I thank God for the press. And I think that we should continue to monitor, even as changes are made in Congress. And I'm encouraged by some of the changes that are being made in Congress to accommodate these needs. We need to make sure that there is follow-through on the -- the fixing of the levee. We need to make sure that it's raised up to a standard that we know that, should a level-five hurricane hit, that it is going to be safe. The paperwork is now put into place, but the follow-through has got to be watched.</s>PHILLIPS: And, of course, if people want to donate, they can go straight to the Bush Clinton Fund online and make a donation. A lot of people counting on you, Bishop T.D. Jakes. You have a lot of influence and are able to raise a lot of money. We will be following your work.</s>JAKES: I'm glad to serve. Thank you so much.</s>PHILLIPS: Thanks for your time. The race to Ohio '8 in December -- or '08, rather -- in December 2005 -- could Santa be bringing the Democratic Party an unexpected presidential prospect? Our Candy Crowley is checking the list. Details ahead on LIVE FROM.