NEWS FROM THE DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL
Aug. 20, 2010
Vol. 40, No. 286
For more information, please contact Capt. James Faedtke, DNREC Environmental Crimes Unit, 302-739-9401, or Michael Globetti, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902
Camera collection – along with arrests and convictions –
grows for TrashStoppers anti-illegal dumping campaign
WILMINGTON – The long lens of a TrashStoppers camera caught up with David J. Rollins of Middletown this week when he was photographed illegally dumping tires Wednesday in the 700 block of South Market Street. Mr. Rollins was arrested and charged the next day with illegal dumping by DNREC Cpl. Casey Fountain, and pleaded guilty Friday in Justice of the Peace Court 9, where he was fined $500 plus court costs.
Riding a wave of arrests and convictions by on-camera evidence, the TrashStoppers campaign to curtail illegal dumping in Delaware has expanded both in scope and citizens’ involvement since it was launched four months ago. Eleven new surveillance cameras have been deployed by DNREC’s Environmental Crimes Unit since July, most of them in Wilmington – where DNREC now has 16 pending locations for camera placement at known trash-dumping sites.
A dozen more locations where TrashStopper cameras were requested already have the surveillance cameras poised and catching illegal dumpers in the act. Many of these locations have come from citizens’ tips to the DNREC Enforcement Hotline (800-662-8802).
Other locations throughout the state where TrashStoppers’ cameras can be found are also the direct result of citizens’ involvement, said Capt. James Faedtke of the ECU. “We’re fielding more calls from the public asking for cameras in places where they know illegal dumpers are sure to be caught,” he said. “We’re deploying cameras as fast as we can acquire them – the growing success of this program demands it.”
TrashStoppers’ cameras are purchased through grant money from confiscated property in Delaware, including the seizure of illegal drugs, Capt. Faedtke said. “This is about as cost-effective an anti-environmental crime campaign as taxpayers could hope for – the officers’ time in deploying the cameras and making arrests is what it’s costing the state.”
As more cameras are deployed, the TrashStoppers’ program has extended the arm of the law through police agency collaboration and the media. Violators' photos are posted on DNREC’s website, where the public can help identify them, and the photos may also be distributed to law enforcement agencies through the Delaware Information Analysis Center (DIAC). After they are downloaded, TrashStopper photos can be emailed by the ECU to the criminal information clearinghouse DIAC, making them accessible by in-car computer to every police vehicle in the state. Recently, a Delaware state trooper recognized a vehicle from a TrashStoppers photo and alerted DNREC’s ECU to its location in a Wilmington suburb. A warrant was prepared and the owner was arrested and charged the same day.
Not only are more cameras arrayed throughout Delaware against illegal dumping, but the cameras boast greater capacity for identifying violators, according to Capt. Faedtke. The latest model camera to be deployed is solar-powered, has a 250-foot field of view, and takes 15-megapixel photos that offer outstanding resolution. The camera also is completely action-activated and with stronger depth of field for ID’ing illegal dumpers.
