NEW ORLEANS — After 26 years on the police force -- capped by four weeks in which he was the public face of local law enforcement's erratic response to Hurricane Katrina -- Eddie Compass resigned Tuesday as New Orleans' police superintendent.
"I served this department for 26 years and have taken it through some of the toughest times of its history," Compass, 47, said at a news conference. "Every man in a leadership position must know when it's time to hand over the reins. I'll be going on in another direction that God has for me."
Neither he nor Mayor C. Ray Nagin, who appointed him superintendent in 2002, elaborated on the reason for his sudden departure.
New Orleans official -- A photo caption in Wednesday's Section A said resigning Police Supt. Eddie Compass was surveying the 9th Ward of St. Bernard Parish, New Orleans. The 9th Ward is in Orleans Parish.
Compass, flanked by Nagin and several deputies, seemed to be fighting back tears when he made his announcement: "Since I was a little boy, my whole life, I wanted to be the superintendent of police," he said.
Two weeks ago, he had said he wanted to be superintendent as long as he could and as long as Mayor Nagin would have him.
Nagin on Tuesday denied having forced the chief to resign. The New Orleans Times-Picayune quoted Nagin Tuesday as having written in an e-mail exchange with the newspaper: "The chief asks everyone to respect his privacy. He requested the press conference be held the way it was handled. He is a good man. Don't mess with him!"
A stocky, gregarious karate devotee who has been seen repeatedly on television bearhugging his officers and wading through the water that engulfed the city, Compass seemed under strain in recent days.
While some of his officers performed heroically, even as they lost their own homes to Katrina, others apparently walked off the job.
About 300 members of Compass' force did not report for duty during the flooding, chaos and looting in the city. Officials said Tuesday that each absence was being reviewed to determine whether the officer in question had a valid reason for staying away.
Compass also faced criticism for overstating the severity of conditions at the Louisiana Superdome, where many New Orleans residents had taken shelter in the days after the storm hit. During one interview with Oprah Winfrey, according to the Times-Picayune, Compass said that "babies were being raped."
Reports of rapes and killings at the Superdome now appear to be unfounded.
