NEW ORLEANS -- Their eyes are open even when no one else is watching. Surveillance cameras and video from more than 20 electronic eyes were handed over to the New Orleans Police Department, in hopes of retracing the final steps of the once missing Texas oilman Doug Shantz.
"Our exterior footage was able to pick up Mr. Shantz, " said Jude Marullo, co-owner the Funky 544 bar on Bourbon street.
Marullo's camera was one of only seven that actually recorded footage of Shantz.
"Cameras aren't like eyewitnesses, once they catch it, it is what it is," said Marullo.
For the past several years, the city has had its own surveillance system at a collective cost of more than $6 million.
"The results were lack luster at best most of the time," said Councilwoman Stacy Head. "The cameras did not work, even when they did they often weren't monitored or checked by NOPD after a crime occurred in the area."
Of the 253 crime cameras overlooking New Orleans, 164 are actually working, according to the mayor's office.
In the wake of harsh criticism over the program and a serious budget crunch, the city allocated zero dollars to the program this year -- meaning no money for maintenance.
And according to NOPD Assistant Superintendent Marlon Defillo, none of the city's crime cameras were used as part of their missing man investigation. The reason, said Defillo, is because the city never installed cameras in the areas they were canvassing.
"They didn't construct it with the idea of putting a crime camera on every corner," said Rafael Goyeneche, head of the Metropolitan Crime Commission. "[The NOPD] identified certain strategic hotspots and those cameras were deployed based on what those historic crime trends were in those hotspots."
The Mayor's Office of Technology oversees the crime camera system and has had its share of troubles. Last year, the New Orleans Inspector General released a scathing report alleging the office may have violated federal law in awarding contracts. Eight months later, the city's former technology chief, his wife, and a former business partner were indicted on 63 corruption charges.
Goyeneche said in light of only one conviction attributed to the crime cameras by the Orleans Parish District Attorney's office, it may be time for the incoming Landrieu administration to reconsider the role of the cameras.
"It’ll be incumbent upon the next police chief to devise his wish list for technology and then it'll be up to the mayor if he can afford to pay for that," said Goyeneche.
Newly elected District E Councilman Jon Johnson says his constituents believe the cameras are worth the millions so as long as they actually work.
"We do know of other jurisdictions where cameras played a role and have played a major in fighting crime," said Johnson. "I think the same thing can happen here."
But for now it's the private cameras -- those not paid for with tax dollars -- that seem to be capturing success.
Eyewitness News did request interviews with both the Nagin administration and Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu's transition team, but we were told no one was available.
