Business owners along three blocks of East Colfax are paying $600 a month for surveillance cameras to spot drug dealers. Police have promised to immediately respond to the scene when they spot one. The cameras became operational this weekend. So far, it’s the cameras, not the drugs, that are a bust. Channel 4’s Rick Salinger went undercover Friday night.

CBS4 reporter Rick Sallinger adjusted his appearance and walked in an area near the cameras on Friday night to see if anyone might approach him and attempt to sell him drugs. This didn’t happen in the block right in front of the cameras, but it did happen just one block down the street. One person tried to sell Sallinger crack, and even showed Sallinger the illegal drugs while they spoke right on the street corner. This exchange took place in an area the cameras are still supposed to monitor, and a police response was supposed to be immediate in such instances. No police car showed up. Sallinger also was offered more drugs to buy on the other side of the street.,

Obviously, news of the camera plan has filtered down to those on the street. So the dealers move a block away, making it some other business or home owner’s problem. This is a plan that is just not going to work.