we saw that...

(8)(a) "Private investigator" or "private detective" means any person who holds out to the general public and engages in the business of furnishing or who accepts employment to furnish information or who agrees to make or makes an investigation for the purpose of obtaining information with reference to the following:

(i) Crimes or wrongs committed.

[...]

(v) Securing evidence to be used before any court, board, officer, or investigative committee.

Stephanie Ware, operator of Ware Investigations LLC of Lafayette, said she has no doubt that the Louisiana State Board of Private Investigator Examiners will find that RedFlex employees should be licensed investigators. She was filing a formal complaint with the board charging that the company is violating state law. "They're not in a gray area," she said. "They're doing P.I. work without a license." The first reference is "crimes or wrongs committed," which Ware says proves her point.

RedFlex employees armed with radar guns and cameras sit parked on city streets in vans with darkened windows watching for speeders and red-light runners. Offenders receive a ticket and a photograph in the mail.

Under the company's contract with the city, the citations are civil matters, so they do not go on drivers' records.

Skinner said something needs to be done because "we're scared in Lafayette. It's like we've been invaded."

She said she approached one of the vans and tapped on the darkened window. When she asked the operator if he was a licensed private investigator and if she could see his license, he at first said yes, then that he left his license at home and then that it had expired.

Ware said that since the company is headquartered in Australia, "we don't know where this information is going. They're under no regulations," and no one is making sure that the information is being used properly.

A Baton Rouge judge issued a temporary restraining order Wednesday barring the Louisiana State Board of Private Investigator Examiners from holding a hearing today regarding Redflex Traffic Systems.

Attorneys for Redflex filed documents in 19th Judicial District Court on Wednesday, alleging that the board does not have jurisdiction over the matter. The hearing was scheduled after Lafayette private investigator Stephanie Ware asked the board to examine what she considers to be investigative activities.

Ware said she was not surprised by Wednesday's developments.

"I am not shocked. We expected this to happen," Ware said. "It's disappointing, of course, when you're trying to right a wrong, but I'm not surprised."

Through a contract with Lafayette Consolidated Government, Redflex operates two vans as part of the SafeSpeed Lafayette program and is scheduled to operate cameras at certain intersections to catch red-light runners. Equipment in the vans is used to photograph drivers caught speeding, as well as the license plates of their vehicles. Tickets are then mailed to the vehicle's owner.

Maxwell Kees, an attorney representing Redflex, said the system is completely automated and thus should not be examined by the state board.

"We don't believe that the board has jurisdiction over a machine," he said. "The drivers take no active part whatsoever in catching speeders. It's completely automated."

According to court documents, a hearing has been scheduled for Dec. 4 for a judge to decide whether the board does have jurisdiction over the matter.

[A] television receiver, screen, or other means of visually receiving a television broadcast or a video signal that produces entertainment or business applications, which is located in the motor vehicle [...] 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.