Orinda district pays for his own license plate -reader -cameras to deter the crime

The residents of an East Bay community were so fed up with the number of burglaries and burglaries that they took the matter into their own hands and paid for the installation of their own license plate cameras.

Now the same residents ask the city of Orinda to pick up the tab on its cameras and add 15 more.

Evan Dreyer said that there are at least a dozen neighbors who wrapped a surveillance video of burglars or collapsed in houses in the Knickerbocker district of Orinda.

“This is something that we personally dealt with in this neighborhood, not only me, but also other people,” he said.

Dreyer said his home in Orinda was broken into in January 2024, and after that he and his family no longer felt safe.

“We understand that it can sometimes take some time that the city regulations and the city's budgets can contribute to this. We couldn't wait, so we wanted to go ahead with a good example,” he said.

Dreyer sent e -mails to a bunch of his neighbors and asked if they were interested in paying for their own license plates -cameras. In just a few days he brought 30 families to register. They installed 2 flock cameras at the main entrances in the neighborhood at a price of just over $ 11,000 for a two-year contract, which increased around $ 400 per family.

“Like this car here, for example. For example. It will automatically switch on, take a photo of this license plate, and if this car was a vehicle that was desired by the police, there would automatically give you a notification so that you now know that he has just crossed Stein Way and you can do something,” said Dreyer.

At the meeting on Tuesday evening, the city council of Orinda not only considers the contract for the two cameras Evan and his neighbors, who paid for it, but also add another 15 more.

Data protection representatives generally expressed concerns about this license plate cameras, since almost every law enforcement agency in the region can gain access to the data.

“What are the information used for? And why is it okay to be recorded indiscriminately by the law enforcement authorities when people who drive down the street really do not violate laws,” said Karen Gullo with the electronic frontier Foundation.

In Orinda, this did not seem to slow down. The city currently has a total of 19 cameras, and only 7 of them were installed by the city. The other 12 were installed by neighborhood groups or Hoas.

“I want to keep my neighbors and my neighborhood security. Absolutely,” said Scott Johnson.

He said his Hoa had already paid a camera at the entrance to her community. Johnson said while he believes that the city should pick up the tab, he was ready to get the invoice if necessary.

“Repair the streets and repair the lights. Yes, we all want society to work better, but many of our communities really don't seem to get through,” he said.

The CBS News Bay Area turned to the mayor's office and chief of police for a comment on this topic and refused to interview interviews.