Fighting Crime From Above?

In the post-Hurricane Katrina environment, Mayor Ray Nagin decided to install crime cameras at any cost.  

It all started back in 2006 when an odd camera supplier arrangement led to a 2009 lawsuit from Southern Electronics and Active Solutions.

Documents produced in a civil lawsuit by spurned camera vendors Southern Electronics and Active Solutions have shed new light on the deal involving city technology chief Greg Meffert, Dell, city vendor Mark St. Pierre and NetMethods, the St. Pierre-owned firm that paid for the mayor's trips to Hawaii, Jamaica and Chicago.

So after a bunch of strange supplier relationships that may have involved kickbacks to probably avoid some sort of legitimate bidding process, the cameras are installed and "go-live".  

Go-live you say?  Not-so-fast!

According to a Russell Ardeneaux, a top-ranking member of the city's technology office:

There were only 218 cameras installed, and half of those were down.

Down is right.  Kendrick Thomas was murded within steps of a broken camera.

"Why, someone please tell me why, that camera isn't working? asked Thomas' stepfather, Jimmie Ricks. "A girl got shot right over there weeks ago. Some boys got shot right there. Why is this camera not working?

Unfortunalately, even if the cameras were working, it may not have been deterrent enough to avoid this murder.  There is no evidence cameras deter crime, but there is evidence that gun shot detectors may reduce or displace crime to another area.

While the Chicago camera system at any time suffers from 5% downtime, New orleans suffers from a staggering 50% downtime.  

How much does all this cost?  The camera system was intially supposed to cost $6 million, but overran the budget by $4 million.  Council member Stacy Head wrote a letter to the mayor calling the payment scheme a shell game.

So how effective have these cameras been? According to the New Orleans District Attorney, the conviction count is ZERO.

"I can not think of any case in Orleans Parish where we have used successfully, used the crime cameras, to convict someone of an offense," answered Orleans District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro.

So what has been learned in these three years the cameras have been installed?

• There is a lawsuit and investigation for bidding misconduct
• The camera network system has a 50% failure rate
• People are being murdered underneath the cameras
• There has been zero convictions based on photographic evidence from the CCTV cameras
• Over $10 million in capital costs have been put into this endeavor

I think the lesson is obvious.  Leave camera and surveillance initiatives to the private sector.