BATON ROUGE -- New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin says he asked Governor Bobby Jindal to postpone a planned phase-out of National Guard troops in the city to help fight crime.

Nagin met with Jindal in Baton Rouge on Tuesday.

The governor's office had planned to begin a phase-out of the troops starting June 1, and governor's office officials have said the troops would be gone by September. But Nagin says that's too quick because the city still is trying to recruit new police officers and needs some more time for that effort.

Nagin says he wants the troops in New Orleans through the summer, with a reassessment of the situation in the fall.

The mayor says Jindal was receptive to the request.

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