New Orleans Starts Camera Adoption Program
City officials in New Orleans, La., have created an adopt-a-camera program and Web site to accommodate people who wish to adopt a high-tech surveillance camera for their neighborhoods. An outpouring of requests for the cameras from people in various areas followed Mayor Ray Nagin’s Aug. 5 announcement that the city will be installing 1,000 of the digital, high-resolution cameras to monitor crime activities in certain “hot spots” around the city.
The cameras, which can zoom in and out and pan 360 degrees, have the ability to accurately read a license plate from three blocks away. Under the new adopt-a-camera program, people or groups of people can pay $3,000 to $4,000 to have a special police surveillance camera installed in their neighborhood.
Residents who feel they need the surveillance cameras in their areas but cannot afford to adopt one can file their requests with the New Orleans Police Department’s Operations Bureau, city officials have said.
Law enforcement officials have stressed that those paying to adopt the cameras will not be allowed to access the images recorded by the cameras, but they will be able to voice their opinions as to where cameras should be installed.
Officials also maintain that residents paying to have surveillance cameras installed in their neighborhoods will receive no better surveillance or crime-fighting than residents in “hot spot” neighborhoods where cameras are automatically being installed by police.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from theNew Orleans Times-Picayune (08/28/03) P. 1; Williams, Leslie.