According to Sheriff Sid Gautreaux, all those assets feed into a new monitoring room equipped with "large-scale viewing screens," from which staff can give the latest intelligence to deputies in the field.
EBRSO has already used the surveillance technology to solve murders, rapes kidnappings and other crimes. Gautreaux said the new unit will help EBRSO fight property crime better too, allowing deputies to gather more evidence and respond to scenes more quickly.
"I'm very excited and hopeful for the new capabilities and intelligence gathering of the investigative support unit," the sheriff said. "This level of information integration will be invaluable to preventing and solving crimes in our community."
PRIVACY CONCERNS?
Law enforcement agencies all over the country, including the Baton Rouge and New Orleans police departments, have implemented similar "real-time crime centers." But in some of those places, the increased surveillance is raising concerns about privacy and police overreach.
He pointed to a report by The Lens on Clint Carter, a Black man who was arrested for trespassing, simple assault and illegally carrying a weapon in 2018 after a NOPD officer mistakenly thought he was dealing drugs. A police report stated the officer began tailing Carter after receiving "numerous complaints of drug activity in the area."
Carter was eventually cleared on all three counts, but the arrest still landed him in jail on a parole violation, The Lens reported. His public defender told The Lens that police confronted him because they'd been watching him through surveillance footage from NOPD's real-time crime center.
Arnold says Carter's is a prime example of how police can abuse surveillance to pursue people they think "look suspicious" — even without evidence they've committed a crime.
"The system, which is supposed to be used reactively to target only the most violent crimes, is being used proactively to target innocent people and entrap them in the system," he said.
Beryl Lipton, an investigative researcher with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said police surveillance requires a balancing act: "Do we want to be prosecuting these crimes at the cost of soaking up a lot of people's information?"
She explained that ethical gray areas arise when law enforcement officers have unfettered access to the movements of everyday people.
"There's always a red flag that's going to go up when it comes to a shiny new tool or a shiny new complex dedicated, in part, to surveillance," Lipton said. "They're often used for collecting information on people whose information doesn't need to be collected, and these technologies are almost always, in the future, used in situations where the initial motivation is not present."
DEPUTIES SAY SAFEGUARDS IN PLACE
Major Willie Stewart, of EBRSO's property crimes division, says the technology has already helped "tremendously" in solving crimes and identifying suspects.
"We have used the technology to solve numerous murders, rapes, kidnappings, fatal hit and runs and other various crimes." he said.
Stewart added that there are privacy safeguards in place to prevent deputies from abusing their power: The data the complex collects will strictly be available to EBRSO deputies, who can access the information for "law enforcement purposes only." There are a limited number of users, and they must sign the department's policy before being granted access. EBRSO also has the ability to audit users, he said.
License plate readers have already seen some success in surrounding communities. Earlier this month, Central Police arrested a man they said was involved in a previous fatal hit-and-run after detectives used plate readers to place his truck near the scene of the crash. Central resident Juan Carlos Ramirez, 56, now faces counts of negligent homicide and hit-and-run in the March 11 crash, which left 38-year-old Ryan Russell dead.
As more and more businesses and private citizens turn to high-tech home security measures, Stewart said law enforcement has more opportunities than ever to work alongside residents to keep communities safe.
Last year, the department launched a program that allows Baton Rouge businesses to voluntarily register their security cameras with the department under the agreement that they'll assist law enforcement should their cameras pick up footage relevant to an ongoing investigation.
Having quick and easy access to this kind of surveillance footage helps authorities get better descriptions of suspects and vehicles and lets them react to crimes more quickly, Stewart said.
So far, the department said 15 local businesses have signed up for the program.
"We have all these cameras now at our fingertips that let us start looking for a person, whether it's a license plate reader or a camera that a business has allowed us access to," Stewart said. He added that there have been several instances where police cameras have helped authorities find missing or kidnapped people.
"They allow us to start locating these people faster," he said.
Some say they feel safer knowing the cameras are in their neighborhoods and shopping centers.
Lauren Darden is principal of the Gardere Community Christian School, which installed security cameras in March after several of the school's windows were smashed by unknown vandals. Both parents and staff feel safer knowing the equipment is there, she said.
Funding for the cameras was provided by Project NOLA, a nonprofit that places subsidized high-definition crime cameras, gunshot detectors and license plate readers in areas suffering from higher crime rates.
"It was a way to help the community," Darden said. "Having cameras there provides that reassurance while also supporting our campus and protecting our students."
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