It seems as if the closure of In-N-Out Burger in Oakland, California was a bridge too far. Crime was already out of control in Oakland, particularly retail theft and carjacking. Now Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Sheng Thao are finally ready to do something about it. Or at least they’re going to throw some money at the problem and give the appearance of doing something. The Governor announced yesterday that they have entered into a contract with Flock Safety to install nearly 500 security cameras around the city. The cameras will primarily monitor vehicular traffic. Unfortunately, the usual list of anti-police suspects immediately showed up to complain about a rising police state, racism, and all the rest of the accusations we typically hear any time anyone tries to do something about crime. (Associated Press)
Hundreds of high-tech surveillance cameras are being installed in the city of Oakland and surrounding freeways to battle crime, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday.
Newsom, a Democrat, said in a news release that the California Highway Patrol has contracted with Flock Safety to install 480 cameras that can identify and track vehicles by license plate, type, color and even decals and bumper stickers. The cameras will provide authorities with real-time alerts of suspect vehicles.
Opponents say the technology infringes on privacy and will lead to further police abuse of already marginalized communities.
Despite the pushback from liberal critics, Newsom and Thao probably didn’t feel as if they had many other options. Crime in Oakland had already gotten so bad that the private sector was starting to take matters into its own hands. Just this week, the CEOs of Blue Shield of California, Clorox, Kaiser Permanente, and Pacific Gas & Electric announced a $10 million joint security program intended to “improve public safety and protect employees.” They will be putting up a lot of cameras of their own and hiring additional security personnel.
When I referred to the social justice critics as being “anti-police” I didn’t intend for you to have to take me at my word. One of the earliest and loudest critics was former Oakland mayoral candidate Cat Brooks. He is now the executive director of (I’m not making this up) The Anti Police-Terror Project. (Yes, that’s actually a thing. They put the term “anti-police” right in the title.)
Mr. Brooks complained that the approximately $1.4 million Oakland will spend on this project will be spent on “faulty technology” and the cameras will be placed in poor communities “to further terrorize Black, Latino and other vulnerable residents.” In reality, Flock Safety said that roughly 300 cameras will be deployed along surface streets throughout the city and the rest will be installed on nearby highways to monitor vehicle traffic.
That brings us back to Mr. Brooks’ complaints. These cameras are specifically designed to record license plates, vehicle models and colors, as well as bumper stickers, decals, and other identifying features. How is this system supposed to know who is or isn’t from a “marginalized community” until someone either pulls them over or looks up the registration in the DMV’s system? If anyone’s vehicle wasn’t in the vicinity of a recent crime, they shouldn’t even be contacted. Granted, finding a spot in Oakland that isn’t near a recent crime would probably be a challenge, but you get the point.
I will be the first to admit that some of these technologies cast a wider net than even I’m comfortable with at times. It’s the same as the cellphone perimeter tracking networks that the FBI sets up. But until this massive crime wave is brought under control, something has to be done. We should give Oakland the benefit of the doubt for at least trying and wait to see how it works out.