IN THE NEWS
Camera Helps catch drug dealer, secure conviction
New Orleans’ crime cameras provided evidence that allowed a search warrant in the aftermath of a shooting that turned up drugs and guns a felon’s possession. His subsequent convictions landed him a 36 year prison sentence and fine.
Behind the Scenes of the RTCC with WDSU
“Since the cameras went online in 2018, video has been used in more than 19,000 cases.
In the first two months of this year, the NOPD has used video in more than 1,300 cases, over 200 of those violent felonies.”
Cameras where police can’t be in Jackson
Active Solutions’ crime cameras are a critical part of covering high-crime areas of Jackson, MS. The city’s crime reduction tactics were profiled in “Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien”.
The Jackson police department is filling police vacancies by using “virtual policing” with a camera system that covers where police can’t be.
“THE CAMERAS DON’T GET INTIMIDATED”
“The cameras don’t lie. … We stood up the Real Time Crime Center in November 2017. At the end of 2017 our clearance rate for non-fatal shootings here in the 8th district was 17%…It is now 89%”
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NOPD CMDR. NICK GERNON:
Cameras in Top 5 Crime Reduction Methods
The Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center found that crime cameras are in the Top 5 ways to reduce crime:
“Our research found that cameras can also be a cost-effective means of preventing crime. In Chicago, every dollar spent on cameras yielded over $4 in savings in court costs, incarceration, and pain and suffering associated with prevented crimes. Cameras are most effective when there are a sufficient number of them and they are monitored by trained staff.”
Jackson, MS stands up Real Time Crime Center
“It’s an asset that we’re proud, as a city, to be able to pull the resources together for,” said Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba. “It’s a collective effort of various departments within the city.”
Real Time Crime Center ‘getting real results’
The center received 2,300 requests for assistance from various public agencies, mostly from the NOPD, in it’s first year of operation.
According to the city, the center was able to develop relevant footage in 70 percent of those cases.
Mayor touts success of Real Time Crime Center
“We have seen the center, in real time, prevent crimes from happening. We’ve seen – in real time – how it’s allowed us to solve and clear cases. This is a holistic approach to improving the overall quality of life in the City of New Orleans… and that will grow. We’ve only scratched the surface,” said Mayor Cantrell.
Camera Clears officer
in bicycle crash
“The videos, from a municipal crime camera and another officer’s dashboard camera, contradict a woman who said she saw Carl Odoms waiting on the curb to walk his bike across an Algiers intersection the night of Aug. 27 when officer Derrick Williams suddenly plowed into him. The woman also accused Williams of speeding to beat a yellow caution light.”
City of Alexandria Teams with Active Solutions
“With the new community college opening up downtown, we wanted to provide as much coverage as we can down there,” [Alexandria Police] Chief [Jerrod] King said. “We can’t always have an officer in every location. This is a force multiplier for us.”
Key video evidence helps secure guilty plea
Crime camera video released by the Orleans District Attorneys office shows the scene on Esplanade Avenue just after the Endymion parade last March.
You see a group of cyclists riding in the bike lane, heading toward the French Quarter.
Then, out of nowhere, a black Camaro, driven by Tashonty Toney, flies down the street going about 80 miles per hour.
Praise for Crime Cameras
St. John Sheriff’s Office works toward a goal of obtaining body cameras by the end of 2022, [Sheriff Mike] Tregre said he has already seen the influence crime cameras have on criminal investigations.
“The crime camera has become the witness,” Tregre said. “People are not coming forward with information, and the crime camera has been the most reliable witness we have.”