WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., today sent a letter to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales requesting that the Department of Justice intervene to help control rising crime and violence in the New Orleans metropolitan area. In particular, the senator asked that additional agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Administration be dispatched to the area, and that staff be increased at the United States Attorney's office, where additional resources are "critically needed."

"The criminal justice infrastructure in Orleans Parish is broken," Sen. Landrieu wrote. "It needs to be immediately fixed… Violent crime is on a dangerous rise, [and it] threatens the very foundation of our rebuilding efforts."

Sen. Landrieu also recommended that the Attorney General visit New Orleans and hold a coordinating meeting to develop an action plan with federal, state, regional and local officials, law enforcement agencies, corrections officers and court administrators who are working to address the crisis, including members and section chairs of the Southeast Louisiana Criminal Justice Recovery Task Force, ensuring full cooperation and rapid deployment of maximum resources.

Federal RICO statutes could also be brought to bear to dismantle developing gangs and drug networks in the city, she wrote.

Sen. Landrieu cited limitations on the police, court and prison systems since hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the devastating levee breaks that followed, noting that the understaffed New Orleans District Attorney's office has thousands of pending cases, detention facilities have been destroyed, and there is no longer a functioning police academy to train new recruits.

"To date, the full set of operations and facilities necessary to the functioning of a strong and effective criminal justice system in a major metropolitan area has not been restored," she wrote. "There is also emerging evidence that gangs are aware of the criminal justice system's difficulties, and they intend to maximize their window of opportunity.

"What is called for is a sustained and unprecedented effort to destroy this violent criminal element before it takes root and spreads."

A full copy of the letter can be found here.