By Gregory Korte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

DOWNTOWN - Ten Cincinnati neighborhoods want to use portable, motion-activated cameras to take pictures of graffiti vandals and illegal dumpers in their communities.

The neighborhoods have asked the city for $57,100 to buy the cameras. City Manager Valerie Lemmie signed off on their grant application Monday, and will send it to City Council's Law & Public Safety Committee today.

The strategy is twofold: to catch illegal dumpers in the act and to deter others.

By using film rather than video, the resolution is 10 times better - allowing the cameras to catch license plates at 100 feet. The cameras have bright flashes and can even talk - "Attention: You are illegally dumping!" - in order to deter would-be dumpers.

Six of the cameras will be placed at the following illegal dumping sites: Glenview Avenue in College Hill, Red Bank Road in Madisonville, Badgely Street in Northside, Faraday Road in South Cumminsville, Tuxedo Lane in Walnut Hills and Gray Road in Winton Place. Each camera will rotate around to five different locations.

The other four neighborhoods say graffiti is a bigger problem, and so their cameras will be targeted to alleys and buildings frequently "tagged" by vandals. They include Warner Street in Corryville, Vine Street in University Heights, Acropolis Chili in Clifton Heights, and Beechmont Avenue in Mount Washington.

"It's happening in isolated areas where they figure no one's paying attention," said Prencis Wilson, the Madisonville Community Problem-Oriented Policing Team leader who put together the proposal.

Tires and roofing material are most often dumped - leading neighborhood leaders to suspect repeat offenders. "We don't think it's single families doing this," Wilson said.

Councilman David Pepper, the chairman of the Law Committee, said he hopes other neighborhoods look at the cameras as a pilot project that - if it works - could be expanded citywide.

"The thing I like about this is that a lot of neighborhoods came together to solve a common problem," he said. "We have people who are literally cutting costs by systematically dumping trash in our neighborhoods. This could hold those people accountable and keep our neighborhoods clean."

Other neighborhood grants recommended for approval:

• $5,000 to the Westwood Urban Redevelopment Corp. to clear out two-thirds acres of underbrush around Gamble Elementary and Ryan Commons. The goal is to discourage drug deals, sex offenses and loitering in hidden areas.

• $740 to the Evanston Problem-Oriented Policing Team for a litter task force and an anticrime campaign. The litter task force would recruit neighborhood youth to clean up public areas and erect signs about the litter ordinance and the noise ordinance. The "Shine a Light on Crime" campaign would encourage residents to keep their porch lights on until 10 p.m.

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E-mail gkorte@enquirer.com