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New Orleans crime camera contract

exposed

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Crime camera in New Orleans

9 October 2008 Problems continue to plague New Orleans' crime camera program. In a

closed door meeting of the city council's Public Works committee, interim chieftechnology officer M. Harrison Boyd revealed that Ciber, Inc has been paid nearly $3million this year to maintain the city's cameras. The only problem is that, according toCouncilwoman Stacy Head, no such contract existed.[1]

Contents

[hide]

1Letter to Nagin

2The Numbers 3Nagin Administration 4Questioning the Mayor

5References

[edit] Letter to Nagin

Head, the only council member present at the meeting, sent Mayor Nagina lettercomplaining about the deal. Nagin's chief administrative officer, Brenda Hatfield,responded, disputing the claim that no contract existed. She said Ciber had a contract

beginning in 2005, which was extended to May 2009. This contract, she said, includes"digital surveillance" and other responsibilities.

However, Hatfield did say that Ciber and LSI Research, the city's main camera vendor,may have billed the city for some of the same services. In response to this, she said Boydhas been given the job of undertaking a "forensic audit and assessment of all operations,vendor and contractor relations, and finances" related to the technology department.[2]

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ime_camera_contract_exposed#cite_note-1%23cite_note-1

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[edit] The Numbers

In the meeting, Head reported Boyd as having stated Ciber had been paid $2.8 millionthis year. With the city's latest release of camera numbers being 213, that brings theaverage cost of maintenance per camera to $13,000.

Given the fact that the program has been constantly criticized and kept in the headlines,Head cannot figure out how such a large cost was kept from the public. In her letter shewrote, "To be honest, I feel like there has been a shell game played with funds utilized bythe technology department."

Inspector General Robert Cerasolisaid he is also puzzled by the deal. One of the majorcases his office is looking into is the crime cameras. To that end, he requested everysingle paper related to the program, and none of them said anything about the deal withCiber.

[edit] Nagin Administration

It turns out that Ciber has several close ties to the Nagin administration. Ciber had heldthe city's main technology contract for years, subcontracting most of the work out toImagine Software. The principals of Imagine were all private sector employees underGreg Meffert, the first chief technology officer under Nagin. Mark Kurt, Meffert'ssuccessor, had also been a partner in Imagine. Six months after taking office, he left to goto work for Ciber.

[edit] Questioning the Mayor

The city council's Public Works committee has scheduled a special meeting to try and getanswers from the Administration. The council had previously been told that LSI was theonly company working on the cameras, which leaves many questions.[3]

[edit] References

1. The Times-Picayune,City's crime camera contract exposed, September 26, 20082. The Times-Picayune,City's crime camera contract exposed, September 26, 20083. The Times-Picayune,City Council committee to question Nagin administration about

overpayments for crime cameras, October 9, 2008

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