Sam Torres Case Study

Sam Torres is known in New Orleans as a wealthy business man. He owned a sanitation company that saw major profits after helping New Orleans clean up the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Torres lives in the French Quarter of New Orleans a 78 block area located in the historic section of the city. Last year, Torres home was broken into and his television was stolen. Torres had enough of the rising crime in his neighborhood and paid for a television ad expressing his distaste. The ad blamed New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu for the city’s crime and demanded change. The Mayor in response to the ad challenged Torres to come up with a better plan and to essentially put his money where his mouth is. So Torres did just that by donating $500,000 to the

However, Torres couldn’t fund the project forever by himself and began requesting assistance from other members of the community. Torres received publicity for his efforts and eventually the program was continued through an increase in sales taxes. A promise was made to residents of the French Quarter that the program named the “French Quarter Task Force” would run another five years. A 2.5-million-dollar grant was also given to the Louisiana State Police to pay for the salaries of 60 state troopers that would be assigned to the French Quarter through 2015. The grant was made possible by the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau and was basically a program and project grant. With all the changes and funding the French Quarter Task Force went from a privately funded program ran by Torres over to the New Orleans Police Department. Torres says he’s not happy the idea he came up with being ran by the city. Torres ran the French Quarter Task Force with a certain intensity that reminded people how of a businessman might run a police department. He watched calls come in on the mobile app and tracked how long it took officers to arrive on scene. Torres expected officers to keep busy and frowned at them stopping for coffee. Torres monitored GPS systems closely and often times checked in on officers to ensure they weren’t sleeping. When crimes were committed in the French Quarter Torres wondered