Dallas Police Expand Crime-Fighting ‘Starlight’ Camera System

The Dallas Police Department's high-tech tool to fight crime is getting a boost.

Launched by Police Chief Renee Hall in 2019, the Starlight program connects private business surveillance cameras for monitoring at police headquarters to expand the eyes and ears of officers.

On Tuesday, police will announce new Starlight cameras at the following locations:

Chevron
2944 North Buckner Boulevard
American Dollar Plus
9770 Forest Lane
EZ Trip
9798 Forest Lane
Chevron
9791 Forest Lane

Cameras are currently installed at 2911 E. Ledbetter Drive, 11770 Ferguson Road, and 2503 Lemmon Road. According to the department, Starlight has so far resulted in 39.6% reduction in calls for police service and 35% reduction in crime.

"The software embedded in the system has the ability to recognize anomalies that might indicate a crime in progress, such as a camera being covered or tampered with, sudden movements by individuals in view of the camera," police said when the program launched.

This week Dallas police officials said they plan to expand their Starlight program and Chief Renee Hall has leaned on that technology to help the understaffed police department. Cassandra Jaramillo from The Dallas Morning News is here to discuss.