“We have authority by martial law to shoot looters,” Captain James Scott of the New Orleans Police department, or NOPD, told more than two dozen officers just days after Hurricane Katrina ripped through Southeastern Louisiana in 2005. In the ensuing weeks, New Orleans police officers shot at least 11 residents, killing five.

According to an investigation by ProPublica in 2010, officers were not only given orders to “shoot looters,” but also to “do what you have to do” to “take back the city.” To many residents, taking back the city appeared to have little to do with escorting stranded New Orleanians to safety. For days after the orders, many New Orleans residents remained trapped in their homes and on their roofs during continued flooding. While residents waited for aid, dozens of NOPD officers reportedly protected buildings, standing guard over private property with rifles rather than helping those stranded.

Sixteen years and many hurricanes later, some residents fear the city hasn’t learned from its mistakes.

On Sunday morning, during the first joint press conference held by New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell and NOPD Superintendent Shaun D. Ferguson in the wake of Hurricane Ida, the leaders emphasized the elevation of a newly-formed “anti-looting” task force without mentioning how police would offer supportive services as streets flooded and the entire city lost power. “Without power, that creates opportunities for some, and we will not tolerate that,” Ferguson said on Sunday, standing beside Mayor Cantrell.

“I’m really pissed off that the most visible recovery ‘effort’ I have seen is a bunch of army boots with machine guns sitting in front of stores,” New Orleans resident Allo Mumphrey wrote to Grist on Twitter. “They couldn’t bring us food and water yet, but they have guns.”

Read the full article about New Orleans' anti-looting task force by Adam Mahoney at Grist.