Can a Louisiana police officer use in-car video to issue a traffic ticket at the scene or mail one later?

Plain-English summary

A state senator asked whether Louisiana law allowed officers to use video recording equipment to monitor and record traffic violations and issue citations. The attorney general drew a line between an officer issuing a ticket at the time of the offense and recording a vehicle to mail a ticket later.

La. R.S. 32:365(B) allowed law enforcement officers to operate video equipment and monitors in their vehicles while performing their duties. The opinion said they could use that equipment to issue a citation at the scene. The same provision expressly barred reading that authorization as permission to record a traffic violation for a citation mailed to the alleged violator later.

The office noted that local or municipal authorities may use separate laws governing mobile speed cameras and automated speed enforcement for later mailed citations. Its answer about officer-operated in-car equipment did not decide those separate programs.

What this means for you

Law enforcement officers

The opinion allowed use of in-vehicle video equipment to support a citation issued at the time of the offense. It said that equipment could not be used under La. R.S. 32:365(B) to record a violation for a citation mailed afterward.

Drivers receiving citations

The opinion distinguished an immediate citation based on an officer's in-car video from a later mailed citation based on a recording made with that equipment. Its holding concerned the authority for officers to operate the in-car equipment.

Local traffic-enforcement officials

The opinion separately recognized laws for municipal or local mobile speed cameras and automated speed enforcement. It did not treat the restriction on officers' in-car video as a categorical ban on every later mailed traffic citation.

Common questions

Q: Can a Louisiana officer use a dash camera to issue a ticket at the scene?
A: The attorney general said an officer may use video recording equipment and monitors in a law enforcement vehicle to issue a citation at the time of the offense.

Q: Can that officer record a violation and mail the ticket later?
A: Not under the in-car equipment authorization analyzed here. The opinion said La. R.S. 32:365(B) expressly rules out that use.

Q: Did the opinion ban all mailed tickets from speed cameras?
A: No. It noted separate authority for local or municipal use of mobile speed cameras and automated speed enforcement devices.

Background and statutory framework

The opinion quoted La. R.S. 32:365(B), which authorizes law enforcement personnel to operate video recorders and monitors in their vehicles during official duties while excluding recordings used for later mailed citations. The office read it as an exception to the general rule against a driver having visible moving television images in a moving vehicle. It also identified separate provisions of the Louisiana Highway Regulatory Act concerning mobile and automated enforcement devices.

Citations and references

• La. R.S. 32:365(B) (law enforcement vehicle video authorization and mailed-citation restriction)
• Louisiana Highway Regulatory Act (separate local automated-enforcement authority discussed)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinions
• Original PDF: https://www.ag.state.la.us/Opinion/Download/24-0028

Original opinion text

Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain; the linked PDF is authoritative.

STATE OF LOuIsIANA
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()II1cE OI IF1E A L’1)II’i (i1:NERAI.
P.O. Box 9 1005
1-3xroN Rou;i, LA
7080• F—9005

Liz 1VILRRILL
ArI’oHsI:\ GENERAL.
May 14, 2024
OPINION 24-0028

                                                60           LAW OFFICERS       —   Authority & Jurisdiction
    Senator Stewart A. Cathey, Jr.              La. R S. 32:1 et seq                 La R.S 32:45
    7268 Hwy. 165 North, Ste. 209               La. R.S. 32:43                       La. R.S. 32:365

Monroe, LA 71 203
Louisiana Revised Statute 365(B) permits law enforcement officers to
utilize video recording equipment and monitors in their vehicles for issuing traffic citations at the time of the offense. However, the statute prohibits the
Dear Senator Cathe”I
use of such equipment for issuing traffic citations by mail at a later date.

You requested the opinion of this office regarding whether La. R.S. 32:365(B) prohibits law enforcement officers from using video recording equipment for the purpose of monitoring, recording, and issuing a traffic violation. As we explain further below, we find that the statute permits law enforcement officers to use video recording equipment and monitors in their vehicles for the purpose of issuing traffic citations at the time of the offense. However, the statute explicitly prohibits the use of such equipment to record vehicles in violation of traffic safety laws in order to mail traffic citations at a later date.

Louisiana Revised Statute 32:365(B) provides:

Law enforcement officers of the state or any political subdivision thereof shall be authorized to operate video recording equipment and monitors in their law enforcement vehicles while in the performance of their duties.
However, this provision shall not be construed to allow law enforcement officers to record vehicles in violation of traffic safety laws with citations for such violations to be mailed to the alleged violator at a later date.

Louisiana Revised Statute 32:365(A) is a general provision prohibiting a person from driving a motor vehicle equipped with a television when the moving images are visible to the driver while the vehicle is in motion. Louisiana Revised Statute 365(B) operates as an exception to the general prohibition in the statute in favor of law enforcement officers; however, the last sentence of Section B qualifies this exception to make clear that the exception should not be interpreted as an authorization for law enforcement officers to utilize video recording equipment to record traffic violations to be mailed to the alleged offender at a later time.

Louisiana Revised Statute 32:365(B) prohibits law enforcement officers from using video recording equipment or monitors in their law enforcement vehicles for the purpose of recording traffic violations where a citation is to be mailed to the alleged offender at a later date. However, this statute does not prevent law enforcement officers from using video

Page 2

OPINION 24-0028
Senator Stewart A. Cathey, Jr.
Page 2
recording equipment and monitors in their law enforcement vehicles to issue a traffic citation to the offender at the time of the offense. Traffic citations that are mailed to the alleged offender at a later date are typically characterized as civil administrative violations,1 and this method of issuing citations for traffic violations may be utilized by local or municipal authorities pursuant to the Louisiana Highway Regulatory Act2 by the use of mobile speed cameras or automated speed enforcement devices.3

Considering the foregoing, it is the opinion of this office that La. R.S. 32:365(B) permits law enforcement officers to utilize video recording equipment and monitors in their vehicles for issuing traffic citations at the time of the offense. However, La. R.S. 32:365(B) prohibits the use of such equipment for issuing traffic citations by mail at a later date.

We trust this adequately responds to your request. However, if our office can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

With best regards,

LIZ MURRILL
ATTORNEY GENERAL

Amanda M. LaGroue
Assistant Attorney General

LM:AML

1 See La. Atty. Gen. Op. No. 11-0152.
2 La. R.S. 32: 1 et seq.
,

3 Louisiana Revised Statute 32:45(0) defines mobUe speed camera as “a device designed to collect photographic or video evidence of an alleged violation of a posted speed limit by recording images that depict the license plate or other identifying feature of a motor vehicle that is not operated in compliance with a posted speed limit sign.” Louisiana Revised Statute 32:43(B) defines automated speed enforcement devices as “an unmanned or handheld camera or optical device installed to work in conjunction with a traffic control signal or radar speed detection equipment, or both, and designed to collect photographic evidence of alleged traffic violations for the issuance of traffic citations by recording images that depict the license plate or other identifying feature of a motor vehicle not in compliance with instruction of a traffic control signal or posted traffic sign.”