Las Vegas fighting graffiti with surveillance
Updated: Jan 26, 2009 01:56 PM PST

It's a problem that cost the city of Las Vegas more than $440,000 last year.  Now they're fighting back against graffiti taggers with surveillance cameras.

According to the city's neighborhood response manager, the cameras are already working to cut down on graffiti crimes.  So far, they've got 16 solar-powered cameras in rotation.

"We've seen a huge reduction in the high incident areas.  Anywhere that we have a camera, we have almost zero percent repeats on those areas," said Devon Smith, with the city of Las Vegas.

Using a motion censor, the cameras give off an audio warning to anyone who comes within a certain radius.  Without any more notice, the camera snaps a clear digital photo that can be viewed right off the Internet.

"What we've actually been able to do, is catch somebody on a different area that they're doing graffiti.  When they tie that graffiti to current pictures that we have, they're able to prosecute on all the instances that we have documentation," added Smith.

Smith says, both Mayor Goodman and the council are proactive about this system.  He's hoping the city is eventually able to expand.

Unfortunately, the recent cutbacks to the city are a roadblock in purchasing more surveillance cameras, which cost about $5,000 a piece.

At the same time, the city is confident that these cameras will save taxpayers money in the long run.

Keep it tuned to Channel 13.

http://www.ktnv.com/global/story.asp?s=9730621