Jury selection begins in civil trial over New Orleans crime camera program

Trial beginning over New Orleans’ crime cameras

NEW ORLEANS — Jury selection is under way in the civil trial over New Orleans’ problem-plagued crime camera system.

The trial that opened Monday stems from a lawsuit filed in 2007 by two companies that allege the system they’d developed was misappropriated by people within and with ties to the city’s technology office. Southern Electronics Supply Inc. and Active Solutions LLC also allege a conspiracy with Dell Inc. to sell the system. Dell has disputed this.

The case has played out in recent months against the backdrop of a federal criminal investigation involving the technology office and crime camera contracts. An attorney for Mayor Ray Nagin’s former technology chief Greg Meffert has said Meffert is a target of that probe.

The trial could last at least two weeks.