Dallas police have joined a growing national trend toward remote video surveillance systems. It's small compared to Chicago's plan for a $5.1 million citywide network, but the goals are the same: to reduce crime and enhance security.

Crime is already down 12 percent from last year in Dallas' Deep Ellum, an historic district near downtown that traces its history to juke joints at the turn of the century.

Owners of the 30 to 40 clubs and restaurants in the 20-block area are taking action to enhance security in the area, though, and the cameras are the latest initiative.

In a 90-day trial, police are cooperating with the Deep Ellum Association in a new Community Links program offered by Virtual Surveillance of Plano, which has installed 16 cameras to monitor sidewalks, streets and alleys.

The Links program developed by Carol Van Zandt Jones at Virtual Surveillance uses an enhanced Web interface to link cameras at various locations to the local police department.

The timing couldn't have been better for the district, as big crowds arrived that weekend from Texas A&M and Tennessee for the Cotton Bowl Classic, to add to the usual New Year's revelers in the streets on that Friday night and early Saturday.

This was a tremendous way to kick off the New Year, said Mark McNabb, the association's executive director. We are really sending a message to the public that we are committed to the safety of our patrons.

McNabb said merchants were now planning other initiatives to enhance safety in the district, including new lighting. Police have also increased their presence on busy weekend nights, but the cameras will add a whole new dimension.

Three clubs volunteered to have cameras mounted on their buildings and offered access to their Internet connections for the pilot study. Police will have access to the cameras through real-time remote systems from computers and PDAs.

Chief David Kunkle said the system gives officers real-time access to monitor the streets and also an archive to refer to in later investigations.

This is part of making the city safer, he said.

Police will use the cameras initially for basic video surveillance, but they have access to more advanced technology that can process video real time and take immediate action to suspicious activity, said Mehrdad Farjadian, president of Virtual Surveillance.

For example, a person walks into an airport and puts an explosive down and walks away, he said. We can determine that there is an unattended object, and we can within a few seconds notify the authorities.

Intelligent video surveillance has become more popular since Sept. 11 with the concern about homeland security, said Farjadian, whose company has major corporate as well as government clients across the country.

Virtual Surveillance designs, builds, installs and supports intelligent real-time remote video surveillance systems, which offer behavior recognition, forensic analysis and an enhanced Web interface.

Although the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups raise concerns about privacy in the wake of high-tech surveillance, he said most people accept the cameras.

People actually feel more secure when they go someplace where there are cameras, he said. After 9/11, the attitude has changed.

In Chicago, Mayor Richard Daley plans to link 2,250 surveillance cameras in a citywide surveillance network. A $5.1 million Homeland Security grant would pay for the system, which would link schools, airports and other public areas to a central dispatch center.

They're the next best thing to having police officers stationed at every potential trouble spot, said Daley. They also serve as a deterrent to crime, and they provide evidence that is admissible in court.

The Chicago system would be programmed to quickly notify dispatchers of suspicious activity with an audible alert, much like the Dallas system is capable of doing, although police will not use that function in the initial trial.

A year ago Chicago police began using mobile cameras installed on light poles to deter street crime in high-traffic areas. It reduced drug-trafficking calls 75 percent on the West Side, but residents complained the suspects simply moved out of the range of the cameras.

McNabb said so far business owners and the public have accepted the cameras in Deep Ellum and the overall reaction from the community has been positive.

We are not going out and profiling people, he said. It's a crowd control issue to us and police can't be everywhere at once. When we have such large crowds in the neighborhood, it's a way for them to monitor the area.

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