SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KERO) — Police in San Diego this week were trying to sell the public on the crime-fighting benefits of controversial street light surveillance cameras.
The police department wants to install 500 new cameras throughout San Diego that use license plate readers. They're calling the smart street lights a "game changer" when it comes to solving violent crime throughout the city.
Police gave a presentation this week on the technology and dozens of residents attended. Although, some weren’t sold on the proposal.
“I will be against the indiscriminate implementation and use of surveillance technology,” said North Park resident Nancy Relaford.
The city already has more than 3,000 of the "smart streetlights" up, but says they are effectively useless due to a moratorium passed in 2020 by the previous mayor that requires police to obtain a warrant before manually downloading footage from the camera. Police say the 500 new cameras would allow them to get video in real-time without a warrant, which is what they did before the moratorium.
Police officials claim data from the smart cameras would not be shared with other agencies.
Critics of the technology say it violates the privacy of Americans and leads to the over-policing of minorities.
The police department’s plan comes as it struggles to fill vacancies.
