Cameras Focused on Crime
Dallas, Texas, began installing wireless surveillance cameras in its downtown core in mid November this year in an initiative to deter crime and reassure citizens that Dallas is safe. The surveillance initiative involves 40 cameras covering about one third of downtown Dallas.
The goal is to reduce crime levels by 30 percent after six months, and the project has been funded with a two-year maintenance budget by a $840,000 grant from The Meadows Foundation.
Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle says downtown crime mostly involves the city’s sizable homeless population, and fights among club goers and bar hoppers in the wee hours of the weekend evenings. Kunkle says crime is down already, and that cameras will help augment this perception.
The department plans to monitor the cameras so police can be dispatched to the scene of an ongoing crime, as well as store images for two weeks to provide evidence for crime scenes.
Dallas may expand this initiative if the project produces results.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) from the Dallas Morning News (11/16/06); Trahan, Jason.
