Contra Costa Highway Cameras Could Be Example for Alameda
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- The recent freeway shootings in Oakland have sparked calls for more security cameras on Bay Area roadways, but this isn't the first time gun violence has led to calls for more surveillance.
About seven years ago, Highway 4 started to see a lot of gunfire. Not all every shooting was fatal, but some years, like 2016, saw dozens of incidents. During that time, Pittsburg decided it was time to start putting up cameras. Now Oakland is having that same conversation.
From a room based in the Pittsburg Police Department, a small network of cameras - some triggered by ShotSpotter technology - watch stretches of Highway 4 and Interstate 80. While they haven't stopped freeway shootings here, there were two in recent months, Pittsburg Police and the Contra Costa District Attorney's Office say they are invaluable when something does happen, helping to identify suspects, or witnesses after a shooting.
"We carry cameras on our phones, in our pockets, with cameras in our homes," Oakland District 6 Councilmember Loren Taylor said Thursday, just ahead of the latest fatal shooting.
All this week, Oakland engaged in discussion over surveillance cameras, and it wasn't just crime. Monday brought another push against illegal dumping, and at that event, council members spoke out against the body they say is standing in the way.
"So the first Thursday meeting of December, the Privacy Advisory Commission will be discussing what we have already budgeted, to get more enforcement cameras out into our community," District 7 Councilmember Treva Reid said Monday. "Out into the hotspots that we know many of our neighbors have been demanding."
Cameras were being discussed, specifically in regards to crime, at the time of yesterday's shooting near the Bay Bridge toll plaza.
"We are operating with one hand tied behind our back," Taylor said. "Without having that available for criminal investigations."
So there are louder calls for cameras, and outright frustration with the commission that has, so far, objected to them.
"It's not up to the privacy commission," District 5 Councilmember Noel Gallo said Monday. "They're only an advisory commission, we're the lawmakers."
"And we can use them, while putting privacy protections in place," Mayor Libby Schaaf said Friday. "Privacy concerns are legitimate, but I believe we can do both."
