HOUSTON -- For more than three years John Eixman, the City of Houston's graffiti Czar, has been doing all he can to stop taggers. Now he has a new weapon in his arsenal.

“It's a digital camera set inside a reinforced metal housing,” Eixman described of the new tool against those who create graffiti. The camera is dedicated to the sole purpose of tracking down the taggers by actually snapping photos of their faces and other ways to identify the suspects.

“Getting their pictures of what they do (is) like getting caught red0handed in the cookie jar,” said Eixman.

It is similar to an effort launched back in 2001 when a private company teamed with the Mayor's Anti-Gang Task force to demonstrate the technology. At the time, city leaders promised a greater commitment to cracking down on taggers.

Years later, though, instead of a series of cameras, there is only one.

While grateful for what he's gotten, “Oh, I'd love a lot more cameras,” said Eixman.

So why no extra cameras and why did it take so long to get the one Eixman and the police department's Neighborhood Protection Division put in the field recently?

“We want to do more, the taxpayers give us but so much money to worth with and that's what we have to be disciplined by,” said councilman Adrian Garcia.

That same discipline contributed to the lack of investment seven years ago, said Garcia. The cameras cost about $2,500 each, which means that tagging the taggers will likely continue to be a tall order in Houston.