Plus a year in review from our weekly podcast Behind The Lens. A vote to hand control of McDonogh 35 to a charter group means New Orleans is likely to become the first major city in the country without traditional, direct-run schools. And one of the city’s most desirable elementary schools will not accept new pre-K students next year.
Search results
‘Holy cow’: the powerful software behind the city’s surveillance system
Software package can track movement and identify objects and people. The suite also includes “predictive policing” software, but officials say the city isn’t using it.
June drug bust shows potential pitfalls of citywide surveillance system, defense attorneys say
Surveillance of a drug suspect may have violated his civil rights, his lawyer tells The Lens. Police report claims an undercover officer was on the scene, but that’s not clear.
Cantrell’s CleanUp NOLA plan will expand city’s surveillance network
Trash clean-up plan includes at least 10 new cameras linked to the city’s Real Time Crime Monitoring Center. The monitoring center collects footage from more than 300 cameras around the city, the Mayor’s Office said.
City council to drop controversial proposal for surveillance cameras at businesses that sell booze
Opponents said the cameras would’ve infringed on people’s privacy.
NOPD: Drones just ‘body-worn cameras in the sky’
At a meeting, community members raise questions about the police department’s newest surveillance technology.
The DA’s office wants to use predictive analytics software to direct city resources to ‘places that drive crime.’ Will it work?
Some advocates worry it could lead to increased police presence in already under-resourced areas. But the DA’s office says that the data is only a first step.
‘Another step backwards’: $9.5 million private security contract for Louisiana youth prisons raises eyebrows
OJJ pays $75 per hour to staffing company for guards. Critics say that contractor seems to be “enriching themselves on the backs of Louisiana’s teenagers and taxpayers’
Without council approval, city appears to allocate $32 million to Phase III jail
Apparent Cantrell administration allocation adds $10 million from unknown source. Also, architects differentiate their jail design from notorious “panopticon” configuration.
‘No time for him to do anything’
Eighteen-year-old Calvin Cains III was killed by JPSO deputies on Tuesday in front of his mother, who says deputies didn’t announce themselves or give him a chance to surrender.