AI-powered cameras mounted on Dallas trash collection trucks have photographed and rated roughly 21,000 properties since April with a “blight score,” according to city records obtained by NBC 5 Investigates, raising concerns about privacy and whether the technology could lead to more code enforcement fines in lower-income neighborhoods.

The cameras detect possible code violations and assign properties what the system calls a “blight score.”

At a Dallas City Council meeting Wednesday and on social media, some residents and viewers questioned how the technology could be used.

“Raise your hand if you have a blight score…anyone have a blight score yet?” a resident said. “For those at home, local NBC has just reported that our city trash trucks now have surveillance cameras focused on your house. Yeah. Your house.”

More than 1,500 comments were posted on NBC 5’s social videos on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube combined, with many viewers questioning the city’s motives.

“This is actually frightening and who defines what’s blight on your home?” one commenter wrote.

Others said they worry the city could use the cameras to increase code enforcement fines.

“Wow! Anything just to make money off of somebody,” a resident said.

Dallas City Councilmember Chad West proposed a budget amendment this week to stop funding the three-year, $2.5 million camera contract.

“My primary concern is that this could end up being inadvertently a tax on the poor,” West said.

West said he worries the cameras could lead to more code citations in places such as Southern Dallas neighborhoods, where many homeowners are struggling financially.

“I don’t think that’s the intent of anybody on council to select a part of the city and punish them. I think this is just a topic we really need to talk through,” West said.

Using the city’s data, NBC 5 Investigates mapped the locations of the roughly 21,000 properties where the cameras detected potential violations. The largest numbers were in Southern Dallas — including many in some of the city’s most economically challenged ZIP codes.

Residents, including Dennis Edwards, said they worry the cameras could mean more code citations for people on fixed incomes living in gentrifying areas.

“What they’re trying to do is they’re trying to flush us out. They’re trying get us gone,” said Edwards.

City officials said that was not the intent of the program and that the cameras simply help code enforcement work more efficiently. They said humans review the camera images and that “blight scores” are used only internally to help prioritize locations for review.

City Detect, the company that operates the cameras, said the system is also programmed to protect privacy. CEO Gavin Baum-Blake said his company has no say in how the city uses the data for enforcement, but based on what he has seen, he believes the city will use the cameras fairly.

“We blur faces. We blur license plates. We’re not tied in to any database. This doesn’t work alongside of law enforcement,” Baum-Blake said. “They’re not looking for revenue. This is not a tax on the poor. This is really a tool to help preserve these communities.”

The city told NBC 5 Investigates that it has already sent 1,800 notices, which it calls “courtesy notices,” to owners of properties where cameras detected possible violations. The notices ask residents to make repairs voluntarily. If the problems are not addressed, the warning can eventually lead to additional enforcement and fines.

In a statement to NBC 5 Investigates, the city said that when it launched the program, its goal was to issue about 5,200 notices per year.

West agreed Wednesday to table his request to strip funding for the cameras after he said the city manager agreed to a hearing on the issue in December.

West said the cameras can also help the city detect problems such as illegal dumping sites, and he sees potential benefits to the technology. But he wants a deeper conversation about who has access to the images and the impact of fines on families.