Officers of the New York Police Department were hired by the New Orleans Museum of Art in City Park to guard the museum against looting. They arrived on September 3 and got to the Museum by boat from I-610.
For many weeks, under the excellent supervision of Museum Deputy Director Jacqueline Sullivan, they assisted wherever they could, riding in airboats through the floodwaters. They are credited with saving a valuable cacti collection in a greenhouse in City Park's Botanical Garden.
I was looking for the missing swans and feeding the poor starving ducks and this NYPD officer graciously posed for a photo. Even with my law enforcement credentials I was held at bay until he was completely satisfied that I was a photographer on a mission. He was known as "Checkpoint Charlie" and was one of the kindest people I have ever met, sort of like a guardian angel sent from nowhere in a crisis.