Fast changes are being made to the cameras in Shreveport after leaders learned the ones paid for by the city could be hacked and were not in compliance with federal law.

KEEL News caught up with Police Chief Wayne Smith who tells us there were 16 sets of cameras installed around the city. Each set has 3 cameras at one location. 13 of those sets have already been replaced with cameras that are in compliance. The Chief adds: "We still have one or two locations still to be replaced and that is in progress."

City of Shreveport
City of Shreveport
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Mayor Tom Arceneaux told KEEL News he learned about the problem a few weeks ago.

There are reports that the city knew these cameras were not in compliance ahead of time but went ahead with the purchase. Chief Smith says the Real Time Crime Center was not placed under his department until the beginning of this year. Chief Smith says "I did not know these cameras were in not in compliance. Once I learned, we immediately began rectifying the problem. I don't know if IT or anyone else knew ahead of time if these cameras were out of compliance."

We asked Chief Smith if any of these cameras were hacked while they were in operation. He says he called in 2 experts to look at the system to help him understand how it should work. He says those company execs told him there was no way to tell if the system had ever been hacked.

Chief Smith says he is working to change the focus of the Real Time Crime Center. The Chief says a captain has been placed in charge of the operation and only a few people have access to the operation.

Where Are the Cameras Being Located?

Chief Smith says 25 of the locations he asked for have been approved. He originally asked for 60 locations and he is hopeful that will eventually happen.
Chief Smith says the RTCC has about 689 camera feeds coming in to the facility and about 48 of those cameras are from the ones we installed. The Chief says "to my knowledge all of these feeds are secure."

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