DeKALB, Texas - DeKalb city officials may soon receive help in combating illegal dumping within the town's city limits.
Early last month the DeKalb City Council decided to take part in a grant partnership program offered by the Ark-Tex Council of Governments.
DeKalb Mayor Lowell Walker, who also serves on the ATCOG's general board, said ATCOG is looking at using geofencing technology to create a virtual boundary around five areas within DeKalb's city boundary that are being used as illegal dump sites.
Once these technological boundaries have been set up, Walker said ATCOG will keep these five areas under surveillance and notify city officials of any suspicious and prolonged movement.
"ATCOG will be receiving this information and passing it on to the city," Walker said.
Beside notifying city officials, Walker said the geofencing boundaries could also possibly allow ATCOG officials to send out alerts to potential illegal trash dumping suspects, who seem to be spending prolonged periods of time at the dump sites. Walker added that such alerts could potentially show up as text messages on the suspects' cellphones as they enter or leave these areas.
Walker went on to say that ATCOG is in the process using a $10,000 grant set up this technology, adding that DeKalb is one of the first pilot communities where this type of experiment in detection is taking place.