Cameras to monitor illegal dump sites

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Solar powered surveillance cameras are the new tool in fighting illegal trash dumping in Austin.

The city code compliance department received a $20,000 grant to purchase eight new cameras, which will be places at the worst dump sites in the city.

Three of the cameras are fully operational and five of them are decoys.

"They will look the same as the working cameras," said compliance officer Ron Potts.

Illegal dumping is a growing problem in Austin, said Potts, because some people can no longer afford to take their trash to the landfills.

"With the economy it becomes more of a problem," said Potts. "We're seeing these dump sites all over."

One of the worst dump sites is on a dead end road off of Highway 183 in East Austin. There, you'll find a television perched in a tree, and tires, trash, and construction materials littler the ground.

The new cameras will allow compliance officers to see who is dumping the trash.

"They'll take thousands of pictures for us and with these pictures we can identify this person by their looks and also by their license plate and track them down," said Potts.

The city has already experimented with one camera, but the goal is to have 40 in the next five years.

"We do spend thousands of dollars each year if we can't find a property owner to clean it," said Potts.

The cameras are secured on top of utility polls and they capture the crime in progress. They snap faces and license plates and capture images in the daylight and the dark. Potts said they provide clear images up to 180 feet away.

The cameras could be up and running by Summer 2010.