Tacoma police installing cameras TACOMA (AP) — Police .1 r»* installing three \ ideo i-amer.is in the crime-heavy Hilltop neigh borhood to help them monitor drug dealers and other criminals At least one resident of the troubled neighbor hood would rather see the money spent to lieef up patrols "Police already know yvh.it's going on Why do they need < ntneras7" said Shirley Pd words. 5;t, who has lived in the some house for 11 years and oci nsionally asks drug dealers doing business out front to move on. The Hilltop is the most violent area of the city. According to police records, nearly a quarter of all violent crime reported in Tacoma takes place there. The camera project is part of an anti-drug pro gram put together with grant money by the police department and the Hilltop Action Coalition, a neighborhood revitalization group. The program includes cleaning up the area and increasing police patrols. "What we want to do is target buyers We want buyers to find uneasy about coming into the com munity." police Lt. Phil Gainey said "We haven’t put enough pressure on buyers And if the buyers don't come in to buy. the dealers are going to have to go somewhere else." The cameras and monitoring equipment cost about $25,000, Gainey said He and police ('apt. Hill Woodard agree the cameras aren't a cure-all, but say they can he a useful crime-fighting tool The cameras, no bigger than a candy bar, have lenses capable of panning the laiuist ape They re weatherproof find bulletproof Some will he installed on light poles 1 he i ameras will he monitored from a police i ontroI room Woodard said he's not sure how main months they w ill he in operation, but police hope the videos will show them what kinds of (.nines m i ur at various times of the dav Authorities aren't saving where or when the cameras will go into use out of concern the "bad guvs will avoid them and move to another area." Tacoma polit e spokesman Wallv Mason said Three or four years ago. Tacoma police officers used cameras to ret ortl drug-dealing downtown Police also use cameras for sling operations Jim Turner, a Tacoma defense attorney, said he believes the cameras will only exacerbate rat ial tensions "The irony is that this becomes targeting a rat ial. et.onomit ally distressed t ornmunity in an invasive wav." he said "1 wouldn't want it in mv neigh borhood." In the end, he said, he doubts the cameras will he effective because the people they target will either vandalize or avoid them But Pierce Count) Prosecutor John Tatlenhurg saitl the videotapes can be useful in court And because the cameras will he in a public area, he does not believe they will invade people's privacy "1 think in high-crime areas it makes sense Them comes a time w hen sm u>ty says. We have to take w hat measures we can.' ” he said 1 think it can I hi a useful tool, but it's not a magic bullet Multicultural Students Get to Know Us - yo(