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🎥 Project NOLA: How the Crime Camera Network Works and How to Request Video
A nonprofit, not the city, runs New Orleans' biggest camera network: more than 5,000 cameras on private property, streamed to a crime centre at the University of New Orleans, with facial recognition on 200-plus of them. Here is how it works, what happened when the alerts became public, and the exact forms and fields for requesting footage as a civilian or an officer.
Quick answer: Project NOLA is a New Orleans nonprofit that runs a crowdsourced network of more than 5,000 cameras on private homes, businesses and poles, feeds them to a real-time crime centre at the University of New Orleans, and gives police live access. Anyone can ask for footage through two web forms, one for civilians and one for officers, or by phone. The forms are helpdesk tickets, not a records-law process: Project NOLA says footage is used only for emergencies and felony investigations and is overwritten within two months. More than 200 of the cameras run facial recognition, which is the reason the network has been in the news since May 2025.
What Project NOLA is, in numbers
Project NOLA is a 501(c)(3) led by executive director Bryan Lagarde. It buys cameras with donations and grants and loans them to residents, businesses, churches, schools and municipalities. Hosts pay for recording and transmission, from about $300 a year per camera, and in the New Orleans area must use licensed installers. Video streams over the internet to the Project NOLA National Real-Time Crime Center in the Oliver St. Pe TRAC Building at the University of New Orleans, where analysts watch it and pass information to responding units. Authorised officers can also view cameras remotely through PC software or a phone app projectnola.org (read 2 Nov 2026).
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Cameras in the New Orleans program | “Over 2,500 HD cameras” on its own site; “more than 5,000” in press reporting | projectnola.org (read 2 Nov 2026) The Lens (29 Jun 2025) |
| Cameras with facial recognition | More than 200 | The Register on the Washington Post investigation (19 May 2025) |
| Faces in the private watchlist | More than 30,000, partly built from police mugshots | The Register on the Washington Post investigation (19 May 2025) |
| Retention | “Automatically deleted and overwritten within two months” | projectnola.org (read 2 Nov 2026) |
| Who may run a face search | Project NOLA supervisors only, for felony investigations and missing persons | projectnola.org (read 2 Nov 2026) |
| Host cost | From about $300 a year per camera | projectnola.org (read 2 Nov 2026) |
Two things make this different from a city camera system. The cameras sit on private property, so the host, not the city, decides whether to take part and can leave at any time. And the operator is a private charity, so the city’s own rules on facial recognition apply to how police use the output, not to whether the cameras run.
How facial recognition got into it, and where that stands
- 2020: New Orleans bans police use of facial recognition.
- 2022: the council relaxes the ban. Use is limited to violent-crime investigations, each match must be checked by a human, requests route through the Louisiana Fusion Center, and the council must be notified of each use The Register on the Washington Post investigation (19 May 2025).
- Early 2023: Project NOLA’s facial-recognition cameras begin sending officers phone alerts with a name and location when a face on the watchlist is seen The Register on the Washington Post investigation (19 May 2025).
- 8 April 2025: Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick suspends the alerts by memo until she is sure the app “meets all the requirements of the law and policies” The Register on the Washington Post investigation (19 May 2025).
- 19 May 2025: The Washington Post reports the program had run for two years, contributed to dozens of arrests, and was left out of some police reports. The Lens later documents specific alerts to named detectives The Register on the Washington Post investigation (19 May 2025) The Lens (29 Jun 2025).
- Summer and autumn 2025: the council drafts an ordinance to formally allow real-time facial recognition, then postpones the vote for legal review Biometric Update (3 Dec 2025).
- September 2025: Project NOLA cuts NOPD’s live access after the city gives homicide footage to a television production. Officers can still request clips Verite News (2 Dec 2025).
- 4 November 2025: after a council ordinance restricting release of graphic footage and a meeting with Kirkpatrick, live and playback access is restored. Facial-recognition alerts stay off Verite News (2 Dec 2025) Biometric Update (3 Dec 2025).
- 29 April 2026: the ACLU publishes emails showing officers still sending photos to Project NOLA for identification as late as November 2025, and argues the manual route is live use by another name. NOPD’s position is that such requests are not a “use” of the technology ACLU (29 Apr 2026).
As of 2 November 2026 we found no council vote on the real-time ordinance; the 2022 framework still governs. Project NOLA’s own page says it does not use facial recognition to find people facing deportation or peaceful protesters “unless an individual is also wanted for a Felony Crime” projectnola.org (read 2 Nov 2026).
How to request video from Project NOLA
There are two forms on projectnola.org, both embedded LiveAgent helpdesk tickets, and one phone number, (504) 736-9187, which the site says to call for anything “extremely time sensitive”. We read the forms on 2 November 2026 and did not submit them.
Civilian request
The form is at projectnola.org/crime-camera-video-request-by-civilian.html. It asks for Project NOLA civilian request form (read 2 Nov 2026):
- Name, email, phone.
- Your relationship to the incident. A dropdown with four options: Crime Camera Host, Victim, Witness, Concerned Citizen.
- Video date and time range you want backed up. Keep it narrow. A two-hour window is a request; a week is a project nobody will do.
- Location of the involved cameras. Street address or intersection. There is no public map of Project NOLA cameras, so describe what you can see: a pole camera, a business, a church.
- Name and contact details of the detective investigating, if known. This is the field that decides what happens next. The site says footage is used only to help police with emergencies and felonies, so a request with no report behind it is unlikely to produce a clip.
- Description of the crime, with person and vehicle descriptions, and a paperclip for attachments.
Law-enforcement request
The officer form at projectnola.org/video-request-by-law-enforcement-officer.html asks for name, email, phone, department, unit assignment, case or item number, incident type, the date and time range to analyse or send, and a description with special instructions Project NOLA law-enforcement request form (read 2 Nov 2026). There is a separate page for licence-plate vehicle-history and BOLO requests by officers, and a civilian vehicle BOLO page. The officer form shows no agency-email or badge verification step on the page itself; whatever checking happens is on Project NOLA’s side after submission.
What to expect
- No fee is stated on either form. Project NOLA is funded by donations and host fees.
- No turnaround is promised. For anything urgent, the site says to phone.
- Two months is the limit. Footage is overwritten on a rolling basis. A request to “back up” a range is a request to preserve it before that happens.
- You may not get the file. The stated purpose is to assist law enforcement. A victim’s request will most likely result in footage going to the detective on the case, not to the victim. Ask the detective for it, or for the item number so you can request it from NOPD under the Louisiana Public Records Law once the case allows.
- Hosts have their own copy. If the camera is on a business or a neighbour’s house, the host records locally too and may simply show you.
The records-request route
Project NOLA is a private nonprofit, so public-records law does not reach its servers. It does reach what police received. Footage, alerts and emails that NOPD holds are public records under Louisiana law, subject to the usual investigation exemptions; the ACLU’s April 2026 report was built on emails obtained that way ACLU (29 Apr 2026). If you want to know whether a Project NOLA camera or a face alert was used in a case, ask NOPD for the item number’s records, the Fusion Center request, and any correspondence with Project NOLA for the date range. Our records-request guide has the templates, and the tracker has Louisiana’s deadlines.
What it means if you live or walk there
If you pass one of the 200-plus facial-recognition cameras, your face is compared against a private list of 30,000 people that Project NOLA, not the city, controls. If you are not on the list, the system says it does not keep you beyond the two-month overwrite. If you are, an officer may have received your name and location on a phone. The cameras are on private property, so the person who can switch one off is the host. Project NOLA says hosts may end participation “for any reason they may possibly deem necessary” projectnola.org (read 2 Nov 2026), which makes a polite conversation with the business or neighbour the most direct lever a resident has. Our face-search guide covers the broader picture, and the exposed-cameras guide covers the hosts’ side: a camera that streams to a crime centre is also a camera on the internet.
Frequently asked questions
What is Project NOLA?
A New Orleans 501(c)(3) nonprofit, led by Bryan Lagarde, that loans cameras to residents, businesses and institutions and streams them to a real-time crime centre at the University of New Orleans, where analysts and authorised police can watch. Its site counts over 2,500 HD cameras in the New Orleans program; press reports put the network at more than 5,000, with over 200 running facial recognition.
How do I request video from Project NOLA?
Use the civilian form at projectnola.org/crime-camera-video-request-by-civilian.html, or call (504) 736-9187 if it is urgent. The form asks for your name, email and phone, your relationship to the incident (host, victim, witness or concerned citizen), the date and time range to back up, the location of the cameras, the investigating detective's details if known, and a description with attachments. Footage is overwritten within two months, so request early.
Can a member of the public get the footage itself?
Not usually. Project NOLA says footage is used only to assist law enforcement with emergencies and felony investigations, so a victim's request typically results in footage going to the detective on the case. Ask the detective for it, or request it from NOPD under Louisiana public-records law once the case allows. If the camera is on a neighbour's or business's property, the host also records locally and may show you.
Does Project NOLA charge for video requests?
Neither request form states a fee. Project NOLA is funded by donations and by host fees of about $300 a year per camera. The forms are helpdesk tickets and no turnaround time is promised.
Is Project NOLA's facial recognition still running for police?
Partly. Live facial-recognition alerts to NOPD were suspended on 8 April 2025 and remained off when live camera access was restored on 4 November 2025. In April 2026 the ACLU published emails showing officers still sending photos to Project NOLA for identification, which NOPD says is not a 'use' of the technology. The 2022 city ordinance, which allows after-the-fact searches in violent-crime cases but not surveillance, still governs; no vote on a real-time ordinance had happened as of 2 November 2026.
Can I find out whether a Project NOLA camera was used in my case?
Project NOLA itself is private, but what NOPD received is a public record subject to investigation exemptions. Request the item number's records, any Louisiana Fusion Center facial-recognition request, and correspondence with Project NOLA for the date range. Police reports have omitted the technology before, so ask for the emails and alerts, not only the report.
How long does Project NOLA keep video?
Its site says proprietary data is automatically deleted and overwritten within two months, is never sold, and is not shared outside the public-safety community. Individual camera hosts keep their own local recordings on whatever schedule their equipment allows.