NEW ORLEANS POLICE SUPERINTENDENT CASTIGATES HIS OFFICERS WHO SHIRKED THEIR DUTY AND VOWS TO PUNISH THEM FOR IT-- "60 MINUTES" SUNDAY

New Orleans' beleaguered police superintendent vows to punish the hundreds of officers who went missing or quit as Katrina's floods inundated his city. Edwin Compass tells Ed Bradley he still can't fathom the dereliction of duty shown by his officers, in an interview to be broadcast on 60 MINUTES, Sunday Sept. 11 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

"I can understand taking care of your family and then coming right back�but I can't understand staying with your family while we were going through these conditions and not backing us up," said Compass in the interview conducted today (9) in New Orleans.

"I've called individuals who have shirked their responsibility and duty 'cowards'�.I wished I possessed a vocabulary large enough to find a word that depicts something worse than a coward," he tells Bradley. "Because when you look at the sacrifice the men and women of this police department made that stayed, not only did [the cowards] not stay, they talked to the media and criticized the brave men and women that were standing tall and standing strong. Not only were they cowards, they were less than cowards," says Compass.

Compass couldn't describe what the ramifications would be for the missing officers; the issue hadn't been discussed because he was too busy saving lives and property in his flood-ravaged city. Punishment, however was forthcoming. "There will be action taken against them," he tells Bradley. "There will be atonement for their actions."