Cameras: They Don’t Work

• By Ralph C. Jensen
• May 14, 2021

For all the talk of Safe Cities, and correct camera placement, it all comes to naught if the cameras don’t work. Dallas police investigators found this to be the case in a popular weekend area where younger groups of people mingle, well into the morning hours.

A deadly hit-and-run took the life of Jasmine Hassan, 21, as she was leaving a bar on the city’s popular McKinney Avenue area when she apparently got into an argument with a man who had asked for her phone number. The man drove off but circled back.

The couple continued the argument, but Hassan lost her footing and fell. She was run over.

Dallas Police investigators began searching for video but found only one blurry image, and on it they found a blurry image of what seemed to be a 2009 – 2013 white Chevy Camero.

Back to the Safe Cities cameras. An investigator told the family that they didn’t work. DPD currently has 354 cameras across the city, which are purposed as a deterrent and to help investigators.

It is a wake-up call for law enforcement in Dallas. Make sure your cameras are working.

Crime Stoppers is offering a $5,000 reward for information in this case.