BATON ROUGE - City leaders are considering new strategies and efforts to catch and crack down on blight, especially illegal trash dumping. The city plans to hide cameras around the city.

It's not the first time the city has placed cameras in discreet locations. They installed 16 cameras at the top of utility poles in 2019. The city says the cameras helped deter dumping in specific areas, but they were cumbersome and have since been taken down. This time around, the plan is simpler and more discreet.

Development Director Rachael Lambert is excited to get the initiative going. The department would essentially install deer cameras to catch and identify people who dump piles of trash.

"We're not going to tell you where they are because we want to clean up our city and we want to catch those who are not helping our city stay clean," said Lambert.

The emergency item on this week's Metro Council agenda would accept a Keep Louisiana Beautiful grant to establish a litter and illegal dumping surveillance camera program. The cameras would target historically problematic areas. 

"Dead-ends, under the interstate, public property," said Lambert.

In August, the city cleaned up a large trash pile of trash dumped illegally under the interstate. Mayor President Sid Edwards was there for the cleanup. 

"They're lazy, all they got to do is go to the dump or go to the dumpster, but to put this in somebody's neighborhood, we gonna get you," said Edwards.

Weeks later, the city is working to make changes to catch illegal dumping. The city says if someone is caught violating illegal dumping laws, they will be cited by police.  

"We will be pursuing criminal charges," said Lambert.

If the council approves the emergency agenda item, the city will need to finalize the contract with Keep Louisiana Beautiful and order the cameras. The city hopes to have them up, active, and watching for violators by the end of the year.