Privacy & Surveillance in New Orleans, LA (2026)
2 verified privacy & surveillance rules for New Orleans, Louisiana, sourced directly from the municipal code and official government pages.
Verified from official government sources
Facial Recognition Ban
New Orleans prohibits city officials from obtaining, retaining or using any face surveillance system, with a narrow carve-out letting NOPD request facial recognition only when investigating a specific list of violent felonies under a warrant-like approval process. Evidence from facial recognition alone can never establish probable cause for an arrest.
New Orleans Facial Recognition Ban
Heavy RestrictionsNew Orleans Code of Ordinances § 147-2(a), (b)(1), (f)
No city official or city entity shall: Obtain, retain, possess, access, sell, or use any prohibited surveillance technology... the following surveillance technologies are prohibited... Any face surveillance system... Evidence obtained from facial recognition alone shall not be sufficient to establish probable cause for the purpose of effectuating an arrest by the NOPD or another law enforcement...
License Plate Readers
New Orleans names automatic license plate readers as regulated surveillance technology in Chapter 147 but does not ban them outright the way it bans face surveillance. Instead, ALPR use is bound by the chapter's data-protection duties: a citywide ban on collecting immigration-status data and restrictions on sharing city surveillance data with outside entities.
New Orleans ALPR Data-Sharing Rules
Some RestrictionsNew Orleans Code of Ordinances §§ 147-1, 147-3(a)
"Surveillance technology" includes but is not limited to: cell site simulators; automatic license plate readers; gunshot detection and location hardware and services; biometric surveillance technology... Status data collection ban: The city shall not inquire or collect data regarding any person's immigration status, including place of birth, except in the event of an active federal criminal inv...