KHOU: City deploys anti-graffiti cam

KHOU-11's Rucks Russell reports that deployment of the city's fancy new anti-graffiti cams is going slowly:

“It's a digital camera set inside a reinforced metal housing,” Eixman described of the new tool against those who create graffiti. The camera is dedicated to the sole purpose of tracking down the taggers by actually snapping photos of their faces and other ways to identify the suspects.

“Getting their pictures of what they do (is) like getting caught red0handed in the cookie jar,” said Eixman.

It is similar to an effort launched back in 2001 when a private company teamed with the Mayor's Anti-Gang Task force to demonstrate the technology. At the time, city leaders promised a greater commitment to cracking down on taggers.

Years later, though, instead of a series of cameras, there is only one.

While grateful for what he's gotten, “Oh, I'd love a lot more cameras,” said Eixman.

KHOU didn't get a comment from the Mayor's Office, but Councilmember and Sheriff candidate Adrian Garcia had this to say on the lack of follow-through:

“We want to do more, the taxpayers give us but so much money to worth [sic] with and that's what we have to be disciplined by,” said councilman Adrian Garcia.

That same discipline contributed to the lack of investment seven years ago, said Garcia. The cameras cost about $2,500 each, which means that tagging the taggers will likely continue to be a tall order in Houston.

It's not clear that these cameras are a great investment in fighting graffiti, so perhaps it's just as well that deployment is actually going slowly and results can be evaluated before adding more cams.

Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/15/08 10:59 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Sphere | Comments (11)

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