City Council President and District 1 Councilman Scott Peters recently endorsed a controversial plan to install security cameras along Kellogg Park and La Jolla Shores beach.
“We have been searching for funds for cameras at the Shores for several months, perhaps almost a year, looking at Proposition 40 … and other sources,” said Pam Hardy, communications director for Peters.
Members of the La Jolla Shores Association have been creating a security plan for the beach area around Kellogg Park for more than two years, said Mary Coakley, a community activist and member of the association. Peters has been directly involved in the group’s creation of the camera plan, she said.
“La Jolla Shores Association voted to approve [cameras] several months ago, and the packet we’re sending to the city definitely endorses and recommends installing the cameras,” Coakley said.
According to police and Peters, La Jolla Shores is plagued with petty crime, such as teens making doughnut-shaped spinouts by driving at night on the park’s grass, graffiti and petty theft; and with installation of the new MAP project of bas-relief sea life sculptures, Coakley and others fear metal thieves.
“La Jolla Shores community often experiences significant parking enforcement issues, traffic congestion, overflowing trash bins, incidents of vandalism and assault and disregard for city regulations pertaining to beaches and parks, such as rules about commercial activity, bonfires, barbeques, illegal camping and hours of park operation,” Peters wrote in a March 26 letter to Mayor Jerry Sanders, asking for cameras and other enforcement tools, including a lifeguard ambassador and park rangers.
In a March 24 memo, Peters addressed San Diego Police Department Chief William Lansdowne, thanking him for the drop in crime rates and associating some of that with security cameras installed at Mission Beach.
“The five cameras installed on the Mission Beach boardwalk have been shown to be extremely effective in lowering criminal activity in targeted areas,” Peters wrote. “I respectfully request the installation of video cameras in the La Jolla Shores beach area. I am happy to work with you and your staff on funding and citing issues.”
Lt. Brian Ahern with the San Diego Police Department, Northern Division, spearheaded the Mission Beach effort at Belmont Park. Although Ahern told the Village News the cameras were “very effective” in a February interview, he did say the department only collected partial data.
While these figures aren’t conclusive, Ahern said he’s just happy crime didn’t increase near the cameras.
According to Coakley, Ahern has given more than verbal support. The police feel that security cameras are a needed addition to Kellogg Park and the La Jolla Shores beach area, and Ahern led an effort to set up an organization for people to donate money for the cameras, she said.
“The police set up a funding mechanism for donations to go toward cameras for Kellogg Park,” Coakley said. “Ahern is the one who worked hard to get that set up and he completed that a couple of months ago.”
While the Shores Association sent two proposals to the city with Peters’ blessing “” each contained five recommended camera sites along the boardwalk that would cover the park and sand ” not all citizens see this move as a step forward.
“Law enforcement can rattle statistics about crime in camera areas but they can’t point to serious studies showing that cameras were responsible for the crime reduction,” said Kevin Keenan, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s San Diego chapter, in a February interview.
Keenan pointed to studies that show cameras move crime just outside the camera’s view. According to a report titled “Under the Watchful Eye…” issued by ACLU affiliates that cite several studies, including one from 2002 by the British Home Office, known for its proliferation of cameras, the authors found a reduction of car crime in parking garages but not in violent crime. In another British study, some crime increased while some decreased, the report said.
Civil liberties experts say that soon the entire earth may be covered with surveillance. Once a person steps outside the front door, he or she could expect to be watched “” and experts say that freedom isn’t worth giving up for protection from graffiti.
The best way to keep a neighborhood safe is to increase the police presence, Keenan said.
“Whenever new technology is being implemented, we like to ask ‘what is the goal?'” said Melissa Ngo, senior counsel and director of the Identification and Surveillance Project, in a February interview.
The SDPD wants to use the camera technology to seek people violating the law, Ahern said.
“We want to recognize a crime in progress and we want to apprehend that offender,” he said.
Like the ACLU, Ngo said studies show that cameras do not reduce crime. Both Keenan and Ngo said the police do not catch people in the act of a crime. The main argument the police have, Keenan said, is they can prosecute an offender after the fact. But better lighting has been shown to prevent car crimes, he said.
“I would like to work with you, the mayor and the city council to explore the use of video cameras as a tool of law enforcement allowing patrol officers to attend to urgent needs of residents,” Peters said to Lansdowne. Peters asked for information for the April 15 council meeting to include in budget discussions, he said.
“I respectfully request a list of the number of locations where SDPD would like to install video cameras in the City and the total costs associated with the purchasing, staffing and operation of the cameras,” Peters wrote.