ON SECOND THOUGHT

Eddie Compass has resigned as police chief of New Orleans, the Associated Press reports. At a press conference yesterday he said, "I'll be going on in another direction that God has for me." We bring this up not to needle Compass, but because another detail in the dispatch caught our attention:

Earlier in the day, the department said that about 250 police officers--roughly 15 percent of the force--could face discipline for leaving their posts without permission during Katrina and its aftermath.

Each case will be investigated to determine whether the officer was truly a deserter or had legitimate reasons to be absent, Deputy Chief Warren Riley said.

Sally Forman, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said it is not clear whether the deserters can be fired. She said the city is still looking into the civil service regulations.

Remember a few weeks back when left-wing commentators were citing Katrina as an indictment of Ronald Reagan's small-government philosophy? What we see here is Democratic big government at work. Employees walk off their job when they are most essential, and weeks later their bosses haven't figured out if that's a firing offense!

James Taranto, Opinion Journal