Two local officers take their skills to Louisiana

By: JOHN HALL - Staff Writer | Sunday, November 20, 2005 9:05 PM PST ∞

MURRIETA ---- Two Murrieta police officers watched the televised devastation in the Gulf Coast and, like many people, talked about what they might do to help.

Sgt. Larry Preston and Cpl. Steve Lang were willing to hand out food or supplies, just to do whatever they could to help the hurricane-ravaged people.

But they never thought then they'd end up serving for more than a week as police officers in Louisiana.

They were told of the opportunity to go there and help by a police chaplain through a program at Calvary Chapel Murrieta.

So the veteran officers each used some personal vacation time and headed off to Slidell, La. They recently returned from their eight-day excursion with a slew of stories and a driving desire to go back and help again.

Murrieta's Police Officers Association paid the airfare and Preston and Lang left Nov. 3. Once they got there, they were "commissioned" as Slidell police officers and put to work.

Though technically on vacation, it was anything but that for the two local officers.

They worked every day from noon to 1 a.m. ---- except for one when a Slidell police officer took them fishing.

Because of the devastation in the area, they couldn't stay in a hotel. Instead, they slept in a small storage room at the police academy building.

"Once we got to Slidell, they gave us cots with blankets and a pillow," Lang said. "That was it."

When they headed out to work their patrol shifts, there were no "official" uniforms ---- just shirts with "POLICE" in big letters. Even the patrol car was basic.

"The police car we had was donated to (Slidell) from Plainsville, Ill.," Preston said. "We slapped magnetic signs on the sides that said 'police' and jokingly called ourselves Plainwrap P.D."

Rebuilding after Katrina

Slidell, on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain and near bayou country, was hit badly by Hurricane Katrina. The National Weather Service reported that there were sustained winds of 176 mph with gusts of 190 mph. There was also a storm surge of 23 to 26 feet.

"It was just devastating here," Slidell Assistant Police Chief E.J. "Butch" Howard said. "I'm still living in a trailer in front of my house and spent 20 nights sleeping here in my office."

The first floor of the police station was severely flooded, destroying equipment, evidence and records, Howard said.

Preston said that, for the first couple of days, he and Lang had no idea where they were while on patrol. It took awhile for them to get even a basic map because the department lost so many everyday items.

The department also lost many patrol cars to the storm, hence the need for the donated one Preston and Lang used.

As both the city and the Police Department work hard to rebuild, there are still many issues to overcome in Katrina's aftermath.

"As far as you can see, there's all this devastation," Preston said.

"There were houses on top of houses," Lang said. "Boats into houses. There were banana-sized pieces of wood from houses everywhere."

Personal belongings are just collected in cone-shaped piles in front of people's homes, Lang said. "These were things that were so important to people, their heirlooms and such.

"It's heartbreaking to see that," he said.

Lang said steel beams were twisted like pretzels and told of how the hurricane moved a casino in the area about 500 feet across a freeway.

Both officers said it was completely different from just seeing what happened back there on television or in photographs. Seeing it firsthand, being there, stunned them both.

"Every street you turned down seemed to be worse than the one you were just on," Lang said.

The people of Slidell feel left out, Preston said, because all the media attention and help seemed to concentrate on bigger cities, like New Orleans.

Even while the bigger cities may be getting more attention, this isn't the first time the city of Slidell received some much-needed help from Southwest Riverside County.

Great Oak High School in Temecula recently "adopted" Slidell High School with plans to hold fundraisers to help rebuild the destroyed campus there.

The first step to help devastated Slidell students was Great Oak students donating money to buy $6,000 in gift certificates for mini-shopping sprees.

As Slidell slowly rebuilds, problems throughout the Gulf Coast seem to be somewhat out of the limelight now, Lang said. "But there are still so many people there having to deal with what happened every single day," he adds.

"They aren't getting as much help as larger areas," Preston said. "And whatever help is coming their way seems to be coming slowly."

Problems facing Slidell

While things such as much-needed trailers may be slow in coming, other things like the number of construction workers ending up there are coming almost in droves. And that presents another problem for the city and its overwhelmed Police Department.

The normal population of Slidell is about 33,000, Assistant Chief Howard said, and many of those left after losing homes. Yet he now estimates the number of people in Slidell, because of all the workers coming in, to be around 80,000.

Preston said driving through Slidell there are "pockets of what I would call shanty towns all over the place."

That massive, nearly overnight influx of people has put a strain on the Police Department and its contingent of 114 sworn officers, Howard said.

"About 40 percent of our people had major losses," Howard said. "They've got to have time to get their lives back together."

That's where even an eight-day visit by two Southern California police officers can help.

"It was a godsend having them here," Howard said. "They were very helpful.

"They are both great guys and a credit to their department and city," the assistant chief added.

Murrieta Police Chief Mark Wright said he is proud of what two of his officers did.

"This speaks volumes about who they are and their concern for others," Wright said.

For Preston and Lang, they were happy to help in whatever little way they could.

"We were there to do some of the mundane jobs so their officers could go handle the other, more important things involving their homes and families," Preston said.

Kindness and alligators

Lang called the experience very satisfying. "It was just a real good feeling to help somebody out who had lost everything," he said. "Something like that could happen to us."

Preston agreed.

"If (a disaster) happened here, in Murrieta, I'd hope someone would come help so I could take care of my family," Preston said. "So to be able to help another agency so they could have the time to do that was really important to me."

Both officers say they were overwhelmed by the way the people of Slidell accepted them and welcomed them while they were there.

"These are just the warmest, most genuine people you could ever meet," Lang said.

"The thing that really struck me was the determination of the people there to rebuild and make something again from what little bit they have left," he said.

Preston said it wasn't unusual to have people they came upon offer them food or something to drink.

"I was very humbled by the kindness of these people who basically had nothing left, but were still offering us something to eat," Preston said. "The people down there just have great hearts and truly want to help each other."

There wasn't a lot of police work for Preston and Lang to do, as they were primarily just helping keep the peace and keep people from going into areas they didn't belong. The two made only one arrest while there and mostly broke up fights involving workers who had too much to drink.

So there was some time for a little fun, as evidenced by a trick Lang played on his partner.

"I'd been scouting for alligators and snakes while Larry just wanted to stay away from them," Lang said.

One day, Lang found a small ceramic alligator and, while Preston was outside the car, placed it on the seat inside. Not exactly something a police sergeant from a Southern California city sees very much.

Preston opened the car door and spotted the critter.

"I screamed and jumped back about 10 feet," Preston said with a laugh. He said his instinct was to pull his gun and shoot.

"But it was inside the police car and I didn't want to damage the car," he added. Preston then realized it was just a gag.

Preston's reaction was probably a bit more understandable, given the two say they saw a few alligators during their stay.

"It wasn't uncommon to be driving in the pitch black at night and suddenly see a huge alligator in the middle of the street," Lang said.

One of the Slidell officers had told them about how he came upon one and the alligator wouldn't get out of the way enough for him to drive past it, Lang said. So the officer turned on the siren thinking that would help, but the alligator just bit the patrol car, Lang said.

A lasting relationship?

The experience overall was a great one for both officers, they say, and actually could end up leading to even more interaction between the two cities.

Murrieta Chief Wright said his department is looking at possibly donating some of its surplus equipment to Slidell to continue helping the officers there.

There have also been very preliminary discussions about some type of exchange program in which officers from Slidell would come here and work and Murrieta officers would head back to Louisiana.

"I think that could be a great benefit to both departments," Wright said. "I'm sure both of us can learn from each other about the various ways we each do police work."

Preston and Lang say they'd easily go back there again.

"What an experience it was," Lang said. "We made some lasting friendships.

"It was a great vacation."

Contact staff writer John Hall at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2628, or jhall@californian.com.

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