New Orleans police car

New Orleans police plan to set up checkpoints throughout Orleans Parish to "verbally provide information" about the current stay-at-home order related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Police also will check that everyone is wearing seatbelts, the driver is licensed and the vehicle is registered and insured.

The checkpoints will be conducted while the city is under a stay-at-home order, NOPD said, which Mayor LaToya Cantrell has extended to May 16. The order requires residents to stay home "except for essential needs such as health care, food, supplies or essential jobs," NOPD said.

"Personal recreation is allowed, but not in groups," according to a statement from NOPD.

NOPD did not say what would happen to drivers stopped at the checkpoints who were violating the order. They also did not say where the checkpoints would be or how often they would be held.

The American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday called on the NOPD to shelve the plan, saying it's unconstitutional to stop people without reason. The letter says the ACLU is "deeply concerned that these checkpoints will be used as a pretext for invasive and racially-biased searches, fueling our mass incarceration crisis while doing little to improve public safety."

Cantrell’s order bans public and private gatherings in New Orleans through May 16. Nail salons, beauty shops and gyms remain closed, and restaurants are limited to takeout only.

Grocers, corner stores, banks, gas stations, hospitals and pharmacies remain unaffected. The mayor has said the city will shut down businesses and arrest individuals who violate the order and that residents can report violators to the city’s 311 hotline.

Reporter Jessica Williams contributed to this story.

Carlie Kollath Wells is a morning reporter at NOLA.com and The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate.