NEW ORLEANS - Dash cameras in police cars are supposed to protect the public and the police, but in the New Orlelans Metro area they're rare, that is, aside from in Louisiana State Police cars and a few smaller jurisdictions.
New Orleans Police started using them in some of their units recently, and now, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff is giving them a test drive.
When some New Orleans Police officers turn on their lights and sirens, they also turn on their dashboard camera.
“The most common way that they're gonna be activated is with the overhead lights or with the siren in the car. When the officer turns that on, the camera will automatically turn on at that point,” said NOPD Deputy Chief of Operations, Kirk Bouyelas.
The NOPD installed them as a test project two years ago, and kept them.
“This camera has been used to clear some officers that have been accused of wrongdoing. It has cleared some officers from discourtesy complaints because it has that audio,” Bouyelas said.
How many officers have been cleared, the NOPD couldn't say. According to the Deputy Chief, the cameras are all in marked patrol cars, especially those that have more interactions with the public in all eight police districts.
“We don’t put them in detectives' cars because they're not out on patrol. Normally, they're responding to a scene after something has occurred. We want the camera to interact with what's going on at the time that it happened,” he said.
For the most part, the camera tends to capture what's happening right in front of the police car, but the police officer can manually move it, or zoom into it quickly.
Plus, they can log what kind of stop it was digitally.
Now, Jefferson Parish is giving them a test drive, using grant money to install sixty cameras into their cars.
“We're not perfect. We have some people that will make mistakes. We have some people that do stupid things. I'm willing to take the risk they do something stupid it ends up on video because it's the right thing,” said Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand.
The Sheriff said he's prioritizing those specialized units that target some of the high-crime hot spots of Jefferson Parish.
“It provides documentary evidence of police contacts. When you think about in Jefferson Parish last year, we made 39,000 felony arrests. We probably had in excess of 80 or 100,000 police contacts, probably more than that,” Normand said.
According to Bouyelas, the NOPD is hoping to put cameras into new patrol cars as the department increases its fleet.
They see it as an added protection for both the officers and the public. Officers must follow the department protocols for them if they have them.
Once activated, the cameras flash back thirty seconds and include that video on the recording.
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