Reports show that from May of 2024 through March of 2025 that the school zone cameras generated $1.375 million in net revenue for the city. However, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill has ordered that this money be refunded, given that the city was not operating speeding ticket cameras in compliance with state law.
Murrill posted about the issue on social media, saying, “Let me be clear - Any installation or activation of cameras in New Orleans or any city throughout Louisiana without the required Cooperative Endeavor Agreement violates State law. I would then have no choice but to launch an investigation and pursue criminal malfeasance in office charges against any and all responsible officials.”
Murrill joined the Newell Normand show to explain her take on the matter.
“The Mayor and the Department of Public Works responded quickly to my letter. Public Works said, We're not activating, we are not in charge of the cameras," Murrill explains. "And the Mayor's office and the Mayor herself said that they won't be activating the cameras until they have a proper agreement in place."
However, the exact amount charged and the timeframe of the tickets still remain in question.
“That still leaves open the question of whether they have collected money on tickets that were previously issued that should not have been issued. I'm still waiting to hear on that,” says Murrill.
“The fact is that they didn't have the right agreement in place, and they need to give the money back. If they did not issue legal tickets, they could not legally collect that money if they had no agreement in place in compliance with the law,” Murrill states.
The state plans to address this problem in court, if need be.
“If I have to,” says Murrill, “I will go in and file a proceeding in court to have the money moved to the registry of the court so I can redistribute that money to the people it belongs to.”
Murrill states that her stance has nothing to do in opposition to following school zone laws, so long as the laws are in place.
“I certainly don't think people should be speeding through school zones, and traditional enforcement is still an option,” Murrill concludes. “I think that there is a law in place. It says you can't use the automated cameras… all they need to do is go put the agreement in places, and then they can do it.”
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