ScoopJohnD
03-04-2007, 03:22 PM
Nagin's 1,000 cameras never materialized
Despite promise, only 50 were installed
Saturday, March 03, 2007
By Brendan McCarthy
Staff writer
They've been called extra eyes in the sky, unassailable witnesses, a vital crime-fighting tool.
Four years ago, the Nagin administration unveiled plans to dot the city with crime surveillance cameras -- both to assist detectives and prosecutors in nailing criminals and, more optimistically, as a deterrent to crimes.
But despite repeated pledges, and a slew of mixed messages, the several dozen cameras that now keep watch over the city fall severely short of the hundreds that were promised.
In 2003, while addressing initiatives to halt a rising tide of crime, Mayor Ray Nagin said 1,000 cameras would be installed in the city. The city contract signed at the time called for a first installment of 240. Nagin called them "witnesses that cannot be intimidated" and vowed that 100 would be up and running by October 2003.
It never happened. At the most, 50 cameras were installed across the city, according to the contractor.
The project had lain dormant in Katrina's aftermath when, at a Jan. 9 news conference, Nagin included cameras among a slew of crime-fighting initiatives trotted out in response to public outrage over the recent rash of murders. Nagin said that 50 surveillance cameras would be functioning in the city by week's end, 200 by the end of the year.
Nagin's numbers don't quite jibe with those of the Mayor's Office Of Technology, according to correspondence and records obtained in a public records request.
Mark Kurt, who quit in mid-January as the city's chief technology officer, indicated in e-mails to the camera contractor that the city planned to have a minimum of 155 cameras installed by 2008, and to add another 75 in the following year.
A City Hall spokeswoman did not return calls in time for publication.
Sgt. Joe Narcisse, a spokesman for the New Orleans Police Department, said Thursday that 80 cameras are up and operating in the city. Police sources and public records, however, put the number of functioning cameras at 51, including cameras that were fixed last week.
Nagin administration officials did not respond to requests for comment Friday.
For Irish Channel resident Chris Horrell, 37, the delays in implementing the crime camera contract came to a head in October when a man was fatally shot under a broken camera in his neighborhood, at the intersection of Annunciation Street and Washington Avenue. Another man was shot at the same intersection several weeks later. The camera remained broken last week.
"You hear the mayor talk over and over again about how all these cameras are up in the hot spots, but it's just not true," said Horrell, a marine archaeologist who moved to New Orleans about three years ago.
"They promised time and again that the cameras would be up and running. It's bull -- -- . . . . All we get is empty promises," said Horrell, whose repeated requests to review public records regarding the crime cameras have been denied by City Hall.
Horrell met recently with police officers and other concerned citizens.
"The police want these cameras. We want the cameras. Everyone does," he said. "Yet we are still waiting. It's a testament to how the city works with its citizens."
City Council member Stacy Head shares Horrell's frustration.
"We are trying not to interfere, micromanage the contract," said Carla Parker, Head's legislative aide, "but we want these cameras up . . . We tried playing nice guy in July, August, September. Then we got to a point where it was seriously, guys, what is the problem?
"The department head says one thing, the contractor says another, that's been the way it is for the last six months," Parker said.
Late last year Head e-mailed Kurt and the subcontractor, pleading for the pair to move forward with the cameras promised for her district, according to e-mails obtained in a public records request.
At a public hearing in early February, Head said she was given even more promises. Still, little has changed.
"There is a lot of fights and disputes going back and forth," she said. "I don't care, I just want this to get done. It's been funded, let's get it done."
. . . . . . .
Staff writer Gordon Russell contributed to this report. Brendan McCarthy can be reached at bmccarthy@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3301.
CLOUDY VISION
A vaunted program to place crime cameras around the city has stalled amid questions that a new contract was steered to a political insider.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1172902991292410.xml&coll=1
Tune in next month and lets see what happens with crime lab that was funded with fed money and two weeks ago promised to be up and running in 60 days.
I know it's hard for all of you but PLEASE DO NOT LET THIS MAN OFF THE HOOK!!!
Despite promise, only 50 were installed
Saturday, March 03, 2007
By Brendan McCarthy
Staff writer
They've been called extra eyes in the sky, unassailable witnesses, a vital crime-fighting tool.
Four years ago, the Nagin administration unveiled plans to dot the city with crime surveillance cameras -- both to assist detectives and prosecutors in nailing criminals and, more optimistically, as a deterrent to crimes.
But despite repeated pledges, and a slew of mixed messages, the several dozen cameras that now keep watch over the city fall severely short of the hundreds that were promised.
In 2003, while addressing initiatives to halt a rising tide of crime, Mayor Ray Nagin said 1,000 cameras would be installed in the city. The city contract signed at the time called for a first installment of 240. Nagin called them "witnesses that cannot be intimidated" and vowed that 100 would be up and running by October 2003.
It never happened. At the most, 50 cameras were installed across the city, according to the contractor.
The project had lain dormant in Katrina's aftermath when, at a Jan. 9 news conference, Nagin included cameras among a slew of crime-fighting initiatives trotted out in response to public outrage over the recent rash of murders. Nagin said that 50 surveillance cameras would be functioning in the city by week's end, 200 by the end of the year.
Nagin's numbers don't quite jibe with those of the Mayor's Office Of Technology, according to correspondence and records obtained in a public records request.
Mark Kurt, who quit in mid-January as the city's chief technology officer, indicated in e-mails to the camera contractor that the city planned to have a minimum of 155 cameras installed by 2008, and to add another 75 in the following year.
A City Hall spokeswoman did not return calls in time for publication.
Sgt. Joe Narcisse, a spokesman for the New Orleans Police Department, said Thursday that 80 cameras are up and operating in the city. Police sources and public records, however, put the number of functioning cameras at 51, including cameras that were fixed last week.
Nagin administration officials did not respond to requests for comment Friday.
For Irish Channel resident Chris Horrell, 37, the delays in implementing the crime camera contract came to a head in October when a man was fatally shot under a broken camera in his neighborhood, at the intersection of Annunciation Street and Washington Avenue. Another man was shot at the same intersection several weeks later. The camera remained broken last week.
"You hear the mayor talk over and over again about how all these cameras are up in the hot spots, but it's just not true," said Horrell, a marine archaeologist who moved to New Orleans about three years ago.
"They promised time and again that the cameras would be up and running. It's bull -- -- . . . . All we get is empty promises," said Horrell, whose repeated requests to review public records regarding the crime cameras have been denied by City Hall.
Horrell met recently with police officers and other concerned citizens.
"The police want these cameras. We want the cameras. Everyone does," he said. "Yet we are still waiting. It's a testament to how the city works with its citizens."
City Council member Stacy Head shares Horrell's frustration.
"We are trying not to interfere, micromanage the contract," said Carla Parker, Head's legislative aide, "but we want these cameras up . . . We tried playing nice guy in July, August, September. Then we got to a point where it was seriously, guys, what is the problem?
"The department head says one thing, the contractor says another, that's been the way it is for the last six months," Parker said.
Late last year Head e-mailed Kurt and the subcontractor, pleading for the pair to move forward with the cameras promised for her district, according to e-mails obtained in a public records request.
At a public hearing in early February, Head said she was given even more promises. Still, little has changed.
"There is a lot of fights and disputes going back and forth," she said. "I don't care, I just want this to get done. It's been funded, let's get it done."
. . . . . . .
Staff writer Gordon Russell contributed to this report. Brendan McCarthy can be reached at bmccarthy@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3301.
CLOUDY VISION
A vaunted program to place crime cameras around the city has stalled amid questions that a new contract was steered to a political insider.
Saturday, March 03, 2007
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-7/1172902991292410.xml&coll=1
Tune in next month and lets see what happens with crime lab that was funded with fed money and two weeks ago promised to be up and running in 60 days.
I know it's hard for all of you but PLEASE DO NOT LET THIS MAN OFF THE HOOK!!!