Print edition: 
WICHITA — Wichita police are deploying a new tool in the fight against graffiti and illegal dumping.
Digital cameras called FlashCAMs have the ability to capture clear, high-resolution images and read license plates 250 feet away in total darkness, police officials said today.
The city spends up to $500,000 a year cleaning up graffiti and picking up and disposing of illegally dumped items, Sedgwick County Commissioner Jim Skelton said. A recent cleanup of a dump site in Planeview cost $12,000 alone, he said.
Several cities use the FlashCAMs now, said Tom Stoltz, deputy chief at the Wichita Police Department, and have had success with them.
One camera will be used in each of the city's four bureaus, in problem areas designated by community policing officers. A fifth camera will be assigned to the investigations section at City Hall.
"I see a real value for them in public parks...alley ways...on dead end streets, where we have chronic problems," Stolz said.
The cameras will most often be placed on poles high enough for vandals not to reach them, he said.
"We plan on making them pretty obvious," he said.
That can serve as a deterrent, he said, in much the same way announcing traffic enforcement plans can make drivers think twice about their actions.
The cameras and associated equipment cost $28,000, and were purchsed with a grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Stolz said.
