OTTAWA - Federal officials didn't install enough lights when they put dozens of video monitors at key U.S. border crossings to catch vehicles sneaking into Canada at night, says a border agency study.

The result is a lot of dark footage with little useful information about the licence plates and car models of so-called "port runners," says a draft report obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.

Every month, an average of 68 vehicles cross into Canada from the United States without stopping for border inspection.

Many do so late at night, when checkpoints are unstaffed, with the number of incidents peaking in the summer.

The Canada Border Services Agency has spent $8.7 million since 2006 to catch boundary-hoppers, installing gates, barriers, fences, sirens and signs.

But much of the money has been used to set up more than 600 video cameras at 61 high-risk crossings, to record licence-plate numbers and other details.

The internal evaluation found problems with the initiative, including failure to provide sufficient night lighting so the cameras can record key details.

"In many cases, there remains insufficient lighting for the cameras to operate effectively at night," says the report.

The draft study, dated March, says incidents of port running have dropped by about a third since 2006, though not all of the reduction can be credited to the $8.7-million initiative.

At Windsor, Ont., for example, commercial border jumping has been cut by two-thirds because of extra patrols and escorts of high-risk trucks, neither of which are part of the port-runner initiative.

New gates installed in 2007 at the Peace Bridge at Fort Erie, Ont., cut illegal crossing there by more than half.

Although the numbers are dropping overall, the proportion of cases that can be investigated and prosecuted is stuck at just over 70 per cent.

Officials are hoping that cameras will eventually increase enforcement actions.

"The ability to follow-up and impose enforcement actions are expected to increase with the deployment of new high-resolution closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras," says the document.

"The CCTVs are expected to enable CBSA to more clearly identify licence plates and vehicle occupants."

But the report also cites problems with video.

The Quebec region, for example, installed a digital recording system at 32 land-border sites last year but is "currently experiencing difficulties using the technology to identify licence plates and drivers."

No further details were provided, and an agency spokeswoman declined to elaborate.

Other technology failed as well.

In Atlantic Canada, some barriers installed under the initiative had to be disabled.

"Gates crashed down on a few vehicles, and CBSA had to pay for damages," says the report.

Last November, the agency hired a full-time expert in video analytics, a technology by which a computer monitors a stream of video images, issuing electronic alerts whenever a forbidden object appears.

The study says video analytics could fill the security "gap" of after-hours monitoring of border crossings, but that the technology remains expensive and unreliable. Currently, a border officer has to manually review all after-hours video, a time-consuming process.

A spokeswoman says the lighting problem, along with other deficiencies, will be fixed as the agency reviews the effectiveness of the final installations, with a deadline of Oct. 31.

"Where necessary, corrective measures will be implemented," Patrizia Giolti said in an email response to questions.

Giolti emphasized the initiative is still in its early stages, and that the evaluation's results are only tentative. Further analysis will be undertaken in the fall, she said.