IBERIA PARISH (NEW IBERIA) — The New Iberia Police Department (NIPD) is seeking more manpower and equipment to enhance its crime-fighting capabilities, including additional personnel for its 24-hour, in-house Real-Time Crime Center.
At Tuesday night's city council meeting, Captain Leland Laseter and Mayor Freddie DeCourt explained why the council should open up hiring for an extra team member, saying it would help provide continuous monitoring, which only one person currently does.
The department will also receive new radios and two additional vehicles to assist with operations. The council agreed to the purchases after hearing about communication delays at the department, because of "outdated and dying equipment."
The city is also continuing its efforts to improve surveillance infrastructure. Captain Laseter addressed ongoing issues with the city's network of crime cameras, which has faced significant technical problems, including several cameras being offline for more than a week. He also explained that delays have stretched the timeline for installing the 500 cameras, which was initially expected to be completed earlier this year.
“We’ve had a lot of obstacles that we’ve had to overcome, and issues that we had to hash out with this company,” Laseter said. “We were supposed to be finished with this in February or March, and we’re in December, and we’re still there.”
To address these delays, the council approved a contract with a new vendor for the citywide camera project. Laseter and city officials hope the change in vendors will lead to greater efficiency. Mayor Freddie DeCourt also provided an update on the project, noting that the city had secured $250,000 in state funding to help expand the camera network. Mayor DeCourt said more cameras will continue to be added as long as the resources are there.
“My plan is, in every year’s budget, to put a few more cameras in place,” DeCourt said. “But we’re not going to get $1.7 million from Cleco again, and I don’t know that the governor is going to be as generous with another $250,000. So, after this, the cameras are gonna slow down.”
