New Orleans vast private network of crime cameras, now pegged at some 2,500, has a new addition: a camera that can detect gunfire.
Project NOLA Director Bryan Lagarde says this new device not only detects gunfire, but swivels in the direction the gunshots are coming from.
"It spins cameras that are nearby, spinning around and it allows us to provide quick information to the New Orleans Police," said Lagarde.
Lagarde says they will accept donations to pay for more of these gunshot detectors. After losing a little brother to murder last January, music star Big Freedia is helping to pay for several of the new devices.
"A year ago today she lost her little brother Adam, a victim of homicide," Lagarde said.
Complementing Project NOLA's network of over 2,500 crime cameras in New Orleans, Lagarde says the new gunshot-detecting crime cameras will greatly help further improve public safety by allowing Project NOLA staff to more quickly alert the NOPD to active gunfire and identify gunmen.
Press Secretary LaTonya Norton in the Office of Mayor LaToya Cantrell sent an email in response to this story.
"The Project NOLA cameras have nothing to do with the Real Time Crime Center Cameras. The 2,500 Project NOLA cameras, with gunshot-detectors, are privately owned and are hosted at businesses or residences that feed into a private, non-profit monitoring center. However, the RTCC is a network of 520 cameras… 400 are city-owned and 120 are SafeCam Platinum, which allows business owners and residents to purchase and install security cameras that feed directly to the RTCC."
