KIM HORNER / The Dallas Morning News | January 22 2006

Some South Dallas residents at a community meeting Saturday told police that their neighborhood needs more help fighting assaults, drug activity, theft and prostitution. But they are not convinced that police surveillance cameras are the answer.

A pilot project that used the technology in Deep Ellum last year helped cut crime by 9 percent, said Lt. Tom Lawrence, who supervises the Central Business District.

But South Dallas resident Gloria Walls said the technology goes too far.

"It's just an invasion," she said of the cameras, which will be visible to the public.

The Rev. Donald Parish Sr., pastor of True Lee Missionary Baptist Church, said that although he supports efforts to address crime, he's concerned that the cameras could be an intrusion on people's privacy.

"I think it's a good idea, but there have been a lot of good ideas that have gone awry," he said after the meeting at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center. "While we have the cameras watching us, we have to watch the people watching the cameras."

That was a concern for resident Glenn Bragg, who worried that the city could use the technology beyond its stated purpose as a crime-fighting tool.

"What else can they use these cameras for?" Mr. Bragg said, expressing concerns that the technology would be extended for homeland security or other uses.

Dallas City Council member Leo Chaney Jr., whose district includes South Dallas, said he was ambivalent about the cameras.

"We're in the 21st century, Big Brother is here, and quite frankly, the time has come," he told about 40 residents at Saturday's meeting to discuss the plans.

While Mr. Chaney acknowledged that lowering crime could help boost economic development in the area, he questioned the city's decision to install the cameras with funds from a trust fund created to revitalize the deteriorated area.

The City Council voted 8-7 in September to fund the project with $281,689 from the South Dallas/Fair Park Trust Fund, which provides business loans and grants to support economic development around Fair Park. The council voted to spend the money after internal audits found that the fund was mismanaged and had high default rates on loans.

But Mr. Chaney said the trust fund has new leadership and a city staffer to better oversee the money. The fund contains about $650,000, said Lee McKinney, assistant director of the city's economic development office for southern Dallas.

Instead of using trust fund dollars, the city should have raised money for the South Dallas surveillance cameras through a private grant, Mr. Chaney said.

South Dallas resident Elwin Johnson, who has mixed feelings about the cameras, agreed with Mr. Chaney that the money should not have come from the trust fund.

"This community needs development, and it needs any dime that's sent here to be spent on the community," Mr. Johnson said.

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