The New Orleans Police Department will ask the city to fund 50 crime cameras at hotspots around the city, reviving a program abandoned nearly two years ago.
NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas mentioned the upcoming budget request during a two-hour presentation about the city’s efforts to reduce crime, specifically during an exchange with Councilman Jon Johnson. A common theme in the council’s questioning of Serpas on Thursday afternoon centered on the department’s staffing levels, and Johnson was pressing Serpas on whether the 1,300 or so officers currently on the force is enough.
A complete force would be more like 1,575 people, Serpas says, which would give patrol officers to spend about 35 or 40 percent of their time on proactive community policing efforts, rather than the 20 percent they spend now. In terms of officers on the street, that would be a total of 900, rather than the 775 the department currently has.
So, if the city council was able to give the department an additional 200 officers, how much would that reduce the murder rate? Johnson asked.
“I don’t think anybody could tell you that,” Serpas says. “Would it be better? Absolutely.”
Serpas said he does plan for the city to begin funding the crime camera program again, and will ask for 50 to be placed around the city this year. They were abandoned in late 2010 when the Landrieu administration deemed them too costly and ineffective, but Serpas said that’s because they hadn’t been properly maintained.
“The prior administration just didn’t put funding in the system to maintain them,” Serpas said in a short interview after his presentation. “It’s like buying a car but not putting oil in it.”
The dormant cameras have been a source of frustration for residents who live near specific crime hotspots. In the 3800 block of Annunciation, for example, residents rued the fact that the latest murder took place under what appeared to be a broken camera. If the city approves the budget request, Serpas said he will place the cameras based on the most recent crime trends.
“We would just absolutely look at what the data tells us: Where is the best place to put them to try to get those images that would help us solve crimes?” Serpas said.
Some cities, Serpas said in the presentation, use “overt” crime cameras that are highly visible to the public and deter crime, such as in Chicago, and Serpas said he would support the eventual addition of those to New Orleans streets as well. New Orleans’ dormant cameras are considered “covert” cameras, however, and he would support continuing to use them in the short-term.
“Overt is a good long-term solution because the camera box clearly demonstrates that the police camera is there and stops a lot of instability,” Serpas said.
Even if the camera program is reactivated, private individuals’ cameras will also remain extremely important to investigators, Serpas said, because they are often closer to street-level and can capture suspects’ faces more directly.
To read live coverage of the meeting, see below.
Can you clarify that Brothers 3 bar on Magazine was robbed this afternoon?
I agree that they should use the “overt” cameras in hotspots. They should look to the city of Baltimore where the boxes that contain the camera are clearly marked with the police logo and a blue strobe light on the top. You can’t miss them at night. If you have a high vantage point you can see them flashing across the city when it is dark.
Instead of adding 50 cameras at $20k each for $1 mil, why don’t they use the money to buy and install 1500 camera systems on willing private houses. It is obvious that private cameras are more effective and a fraction of the cost
YES x 1500!!!!
Experts like Bryan Lagarde – http://www.projectnola.com/ -are already doing it.
But It’s easy to complain, and harder to find solutions-
so I complain with solutions.
– From Johnson Controls and
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/new_orleans_schools_insurance.html
– To 8 years of Naginonmics- (yes I tried)
http://www.glassartists.org/Img69312_Brottworks_Studio_at_5108_Freret_Street.asp
– To present day reforms in City Hall- I’m not sure we are ready to publicly maintain shiny things with movable parts.
Especially when cameras are as cheap as 35 bucks.
or
http://www.amazon.com/Zmodo-PKD-DK4216-500GB-Internet-Accessible-4-Channel/dp/B005FM8UL4/ref=sr_1_sc_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1340957892&sr=1-2-spell&keywords=outdoor+CCTV+system+WHD
It’s better to do a public/private partnership.
So what if your system is not the HD Blinky 2013 RedX2020, and digitally networked?
We are a poor City, it’s better to have something than nothing.
+ can do more over time for less $
Idea:
Private cellphones provide a City wide, low cost, monitored network NOPD could tap into?
Crime happens close by-
NOPD tweets or sends out a severe crime alert much like a tornado warning from a TV station-
We all look @ live feeds off cameras outside our front doors to find that gold 4 door car that just past by…
Real time info goes to dispatch- who send police.
Car stopped.
Or we are informed of a crime that happened earlier, and watch the playback.
I am not an expert, but think it’s worth a try + parts are already happening.
Just ramp it up,
+ Lets also say the City uses $ saved from not installing and gives free or subsidized cameras to the brave and fed up folks willing to install + maintain (hidden?) in known crime hot spots.
Especially to those in financial need or on a fixed income.
+ Also use old public pay phones to set up routers for wireless IP crime cameras in private hands. This would also give computer access to undeserved neighborhoods.
Hope this helps NOW GO BUY AND INSTALL YOUR OWN!!!!!
Best,
Andy Brott
p.s- I also like-
http://www.louisianaweekly.com/ceasefire-program-to-lower-violent-crime-is-launched/
Some Commentors are much more innovative and technologically advanced than I am. I doubt seriously if the Police Superintendent. the Mayor and the Council are going to coordinate with the Citizenry to get the already existing “crime cameras” up and running. We just have to hope that the “hardware” is good (ie. reliable) and can be monitered by female NOPD Officers (like the 911 Operators) who didn’t graduate from The Academy of the Sacred Heart or McGehee’s. The hardware also has to be easily maintained. My perception is that crime cameras will primarily be a post-hoc device that will allow the NOPD to identify, locate and arrest criminals after they already have committed a crime. They also will no doubt deter a few criminals from committing crimes in a monitered neighborhood, but that isn’t “foolproof” (no pun intended). Witness that attempted murderer’s/armed robber’s picture plastered all over this web-site during the past few days. Didn’t he KNOW his picture was being taken? Did it stop him? Look at the ones who are routinely videotaped in “Time Savers” (or equivalents) committing armed robberies. The craving for drug money sometimes overcomes the desire for self-preservation and freedom from prison. Still, getting more reliable and easily maintainable crime camers (like the “traffic cameras!) up and running will be a good thing, and the sooner the better. Ashton O’Dwyer.