The New Orleans Police Department paused red-light camera citations after the arrest of an officer at the center of an overtime fraud investigation.
Officer Brandon Coleman was arrested in August and was booked into the Orleans Justice Center onseveral charges, including filing false public records (325 counts), public payroll fraud (23 counts), malfeasance in office (1 count), and theft (1 count).
NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick confirmed that the program has been paused since Coleman’s arrest.
According to Kirkpatrick, the department said it opened an internal investigation and will review every officer who participated in the overtime program for approving red-light and speeding camera citations.
NOPD also announced changes to strengthen oversight.
Officers performing the overtime work will now report to a common location, and a new digital dashboard will track their work.
About Coleman’s arrest:
The investigation began when investigators for the New Orleans Office of the Inspector General opened an inquiry into allegations of payroll fraud involving Coleman.
As investigators reviewed records, they say they discovered discrepancies between the overtime hours Coleman reported and the hours he actually worked.
They also say Coleman’s reported work locations did not match his actual locations during some of the claimed overtime periods.
Based on these findings, investigators say they determined that Coleman received over $111,000 in fraudulent overtime payments and submitted false public records to support those claims between December 2024 and December 2025.
At the time of Coleman’s arrest, his attorney, Bobby Hjortsberg, said his client worked all the overtime hours he reported and plans to plead not guilty.
Hjortsberg said Coleman coordinated Mardi Gras police escorts year-round, often working remotely by phone and email, and claims internal emails and other digital records will support his defense.
READ MORE:NOPD pauses department’s traffic light monitoring system amid overtime fraud probe
