Moreno declines to answer NOPD red light camera program questions pending investigation

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - The city and NOPD have not said what could happen to red light camera tickets issued in New Orleans in 2025, some of which may have been reviewed by officers now under an NOPD internal review for that work.

FOX 8 has pushed for weeks for answers on what could happen to those tickets and the officers who reviewed them. Since FOX 8 published its investigation last week, neither the city nor the NOPD has responded to multiple requests for answers about the program and the officers who were part of it.

When FOX 8 caught up with Mayor Helena Moreno on Monday morning, she would not answer questions about our investigation.

“Chief Anne Kirkpatrick is conducting an investigation, and I’m going to wait until she finishes that investigation to say anything more,” Moreno said.

NOPD suspends tickets during investigation

The NOPD has suspended issuing tickets from its traffic cameras while it reviews the officers who, according to NOPD payroll records, were paid for thousands of hours of overtime reviewing automated traffic tickets in 2025.

The department’s review was prompted by a FOX 8 investigation into 15 officers, some of them among the highest paid on the force, who logged thousands of hours reviewing red light camera tickets with questionable patterns of review work.

Digital timestamps obtained by FOX 8 through a public records request show no logged review activity during nearly half of those officers’ more than 1,200 overtime shifts.

It is the same type of analysis State Police and New Orleans Inspector General investigators used on Senior Police Officer Brandon Coleman, who faces 350 felonies in what Troopers call payroll fraud.

Reviews during regular shifts and paid details

FOX 8’s analysis also found thousands of reviews from some officers during their normal shifts and while working on paid details for private employers. The NOPD confirmed officers are not supposed to do that.

Senior Police Officer Norbert Henry was the 10th-highest-paid officer on the force in 2025, according to NOPD payroll records. He took home $243,896.12, including $117,056.71 from detail shifts alone. FOX 8’s investigation found more than 1,200 reviews logged by Henry in 2025 while he was working paid details for Christian Brothers School.

Skip Gallagher, an NOPD watchdog who has spent years reviewing NOPD records, questioned how it happened.

“What is going on here? This doesn’t make any sense. And who’s in charge of this?” Gallagher said.

Gallagher said attention on the officers is now coming together.

“The city’s broke. The OIG has been looking at some of these officers. You have been looking at some of these officers,” Gallagher said. “And I think these things have come together now that there is some real attention being paid.”

Screen recording withheld

Last week, after announcing the department’s internal review, the NOPD promised to provide a screen recording showing how officers review automated traffic tickets. Days later, the department reversed course. In an email, the NOPD wrote that, following guidance from legal counsel, it is holding off on providing the screen recording while its internal review continues.

No timeline, no responses

The NOPD has not given FOX 8 a timeline for when its review may be completed.

Since last Thursday, neither the department nor the city has responded to a single email FOX 8 has sent.

Last week, the NOPD did confirm that while it has halted issuing tickets, it is still collecting data at red lights and could send drivers tickets for violations at a later date.

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