New Orleans installs surveillance cameras

NEW ORLEANS -- The man marched down the street in daylight, armed with a paintball rifle that had been converted to shoot with lethal force. He then blasted a newly installed camera in hopes of ridding the drug-ridden neighborhood of police surveillance.

But the shooter's image was saved on the camera's hard drive.

''All it did was get him arrested," said New Orleans' chief technology officer, Greg Meffert, with a chuckle. ''The camera immediately notified the police and tracked him until he was caught." And when they got him, they found he was wanted on a murder warrant.

The arrest was the first success story from a new crime-fighting system of cameras that New Orleans is installing citywide.

The bulletproof cameras can monitor an eight-block area, communicate with the authorities, and provide evidence in court. Police hope the system will catch criminals in the act and serve as a deterrent in a city long plagued by drugs and murders.

Civil libertarians are calling it Big Brother in the Big Easy, expressing concern about an invasion of privacy and the potential for misuse by police.

City officials insist there are tight controls, and they are encouraged that dozens of community groups have signed up to pay $5,000 apiece to get cameras installed on their street corners.

''Maybe the ACLU doesn't have people dealing drugs in their neighborhoods 24 hours a day," said Lisa Martin, who has a camera in her neighborhood. ''We asked for a camera, we wanted it."

A few cities, including Chicago and Los Angeles, have started similar programs. But some cities, such as Oakland, Calif., have scrapped plans to use cameras after finding they were not effective.

The first New Orleans cameras were installed in October in drug-dealing hot spots. So far, about 240 of the proposed 1,000 cameras are now in operation. The cameras will be moved as needed. Mounted at the height of a street light, they conduct 360-degree ''virtual patrols" continuously.