Dallas is using AI cameras on city trash trucks to photograph houses and assign thousands of properties a “blight score,” a system now drawing pushback from residents and a City Council member.
City records obtained by NBC 5 Investigates show the cameras flagged possible code problems at more than 21,000 properties since April and rated them 1 to 4, from least to most severe. Officials said Wednesday the scores are meant only to help prioritize inspections, not to automatically fine anyone.
The city awarded a three-year contract of about $2.56 million in December 2025 to City Detect Inc., council documents show. Financing comes from the Sanitation Operation Fund. The deal covers purchase, installation, training, and support for 100 AI units on 50 brush-and-bulky collection trucks, cameras on both sides, scanning curbside conditions on regular routes. Code Compliance was promised citywide visual scans about every 30 days for illegal dumping, graffiti, and deterioration.
When the contract was approved, Code Compliance Director Chris Christian told a council committee the cameras capture what is visible from the public right-of-way, blur faces and license plates, and would save staff time in a tight budget. “We want to maximize the use of existing resources,” he said then, according to NBC 5.
NBC 5 reported the city has sent about 1,800 “courtesy notices” asking owners to fix problems voluntarily. Failure to act can lead to further enforcement and fines. The city’s original goal was about 5,200 notices a year.
Council member Chad West proposed cutting the contract this week, saying he feared it could become “inadvertently a tax on the poor” in neighborhoods that can least afford repairs. He tabled the amendment after the city manager agreed to a December hearing, NBC 5 reported.
Homeowners told the station they were surprised to learn a truck camera had scored a chimney or yard. Privacy advocates question continuous photographing of private property, even from the street.
The fight is over whether a $2.5 million sanitation tool becomes a wider code-enforcement dragnet.
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