Sweeping meeting on hurricane preparedness for law enforcement across Southeast Louisiana hosted by St. Bernard’s S.O.; Gov. Jindal said officials of various agencies now enjoy unprecedented cooperation

Retired St. Bernard Parish Sheriff Jack Stephens, Sheriff James Pohlmann, Mike Ranatza, executive director of the Louisiana Sheriff’s Association; and Gary Bennett, assistant executive director.

St. Bernard Chief Deputy Sheriff Richard Baumy, at left, and next to him are Sheriff James Pohlmann, Plaquemines Sheriff Lonnie Greco, State Police Supt. Col. Michael Edmonson and St. Bernard Parish President David Peralta.

St. Bernard Parish’s Sheriff’s Office hosted a sweeping meeting on hurricane preparedness in Chalmette on July 31, as the Louisiana Sheriff’s Office Association met with numerous state agencies and law enforcement officials from Southeast Louisiana to discuss plans for such measures as necessary evacuation of possibly thousands of jailed prisoners in the event of a severe hurricane.

That was just one area of discussion. But sheriffs, other law agencies, state corrections officials and State Police acknowledged that with 10,000 prisoners being held in jails in South Louisiana, it is imperative that plans for their evacuation begin well before they are needed.

Sheriff Pohlmann pointed out that St. Bernard learned in Hurricane Katrina that evacuating the Parish Prison in Chalmette – which didn’t flood – in favor of bringing prisoners to New Orleans jails – which did flood – wasn’t the right decision.

Since then, in Hurricanes Gustav in 2008 and Isaac last year, two storms that threatened the parish, prisoners were evacuated to state prisons further up-state. Sheriff’s Office assets, including vehicles and equipment were also moved across Lake Pontchartrain to avoid losing them as happened in Katrina, Sheriff Pohlmann said.

Gov. Bobby Jindal, joining the meeting held in the banquet room of Rocky & Carlo’s restaurant, said “every region is different, every region has its own unique concern… and now is the time to address those differences, not in the middle of a storm.”

“There is no question this state is ready’’ if there is a storm, the governor said, but it’s the work done in advance between different groups that make it prepared.

Jindal, speaking to law enforcement, state agencies and media, said something is learned each year from a hurricane season. Officials throughout coastal areas from law enforcement and government now enjoy unprecedented cooperation with each other as they unite in hurricane preparation.

Looking around the room, Jindal said “five or six years ago you wouldn’t have seen all these people working together’’ to prepare for an area-wide response to a threat.

Also, since Katrina, officials said, the ability of communications systems to operate between inter-parish agencies has grown dramatically, marking a huge improvement.

Law enforcement agencies including State Police and from the parishes of St. Bernard, St. Tammany, St. James, Jefferson, Plaquemines, Washington, East Baton Rouge and others were represented. The National Guard was also represented.

Louisiana Sheriff’s Association Executive Director Mike Ranatza was part of the meeting as well as Assistant Executive Director Gary Bennett.

St. Bernard Parish President David Peralta also addressed the group.

The Louisiana Sheriff’s Association and the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness are holding three regional meetings for discussing hurricane season preparation for less-protected areas of the state.

With the hurricane season now in full-swing, one meeting was held recently in New Iberia, then the latest one in Chalmette on Wednesday and another one is scheduled for Lake Charles.

In these meetings, Jindal said, government and law enforcement officials can “talk bluntly to each other about what worked and what didn’t work’’ the previous hurricane year, Jindal said.

For instance, he acknowledged, Hurricane Isaac last August provided a test of the new federal levee system surrounding much of the New Orleans area, and showed those improvements resulted in changes of water flow in some areas.

He said those water flow changes have altered the way the region must prepare for any future hurricanes.

Spurred by concerns that post-Hurricane Katrina improvements to the federal flood control system around New Orleans had actually pushed more water into communities outside that levee protection system during Isaac, the Army Corps of Engineers studied the issue and concluded that was not the case, Jindal said.

But he acknowledged, “It absolutely causes a different flow of water.”

“Whenever the corps builds levees or flood protection, it is going to change how water flows,” Jindal said. “I’m not saying it by itself does this, but it certainly changes the preparations that need to take place.”

He also said the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness recently launched a public awareness campaign to educate Louisiana citizens on storm impact versus category storm levels and has published the Louisiana Emergency Preparedness Guide for distribution across the state.

Jindal encouraged residents to read the guide and inform themselves, taking into account not only a hurricane’s category but also its surge.

Jindal said about 7,000 Louisiana National Guard personnel currently are available to respond to any emergency.