NEW ORLEANS, La. — The New Orleans Police Department has stopped processing red-light camera citations while it looks into the officers who were paid overtime to approve them, the department said Monday.
Under the program, officers could sign up for extra shifts reviewing video of possible violations recorded by red-light and speed cameras before tickets went out. That work is on hold while the department goes through the timesheets of officers who did it in 2025. The pause took effect Oct. 21.
Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said every officer who took part in the overtime review program will be examined. She tied the decision to the case of Senior Police Officer Brandon Coleman, who was arrested in August on payroll fraud and theft charges connected to camera review overtime.
Investigators with the city’s Office of Inspector General, working with the Louisiana State Police, found that Coleman often billed review hours without recording any actual reviews in the system. In some cases, tickets were cleared in roughly 3 seconds apiece. Investigators say he collected more than $111,000 in overtime he was not owed between December 2024 and December 2025. His attorney has said Coleman worked every hour he claimed and plans to plead not guilty.
The scale of the program is large. Officers issued more than 170,000 camera tickets last year. Kirkpatrick did not say what the review could mean for drivers who already received one.
The department is also adding oversight. Going forward, anyone picking up those overtime shifts must work from one shared location, with a new digital dashboard tracking each review. NOPD plans to restart the program once its audit is done but has not given a date.
Section: More New Orleans LA crime news
Filed under: New Orleans LA Traffic News
