SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The San Diego City Council on Wednesday will review the police department’s request to continue the use of surveillance technology across the city.
San Diego Police officials have said the smart streetlights and license plate readers are helping them solve crimes, but some community members are questioning the cost in both dollars and privacy.
Within the past two years, numerous smart streetlights and automated license plate readers have been installed around San Diego.
Data from the cameras, according to police, have helped them make more than 200 arrests in 2024 – including the arrest of a suspect in two attempted kidnappings at Mission Valley Mall and the arrests of suspects in a series of hate crimes in Hillcrest.
Despite the technology being considered a crime-fighting gamechanger, there has been some pushback from community members over privacy.
"It should be very simple for them to produce the data for independent verification on how the technology is being used so that everyone can look at it together and we can all agree, 'oh this is such an amazing system with such amazing results,” Seth Hall, a member of Trust SD Coalition, said.
The Citizens Advisory Board said the city has spent more than $5 million over the last two years on smart streetlights and searches of the system only helped in 0.2% of cases.
San Diego Police are trying to shore up confidence in the system, noting they are not sharing data with any out-of-state law enforcement agencies.
The department is also looking to update their police to make it clear the data collected will also not be shared with the federal government.
SDPD officials are scheduled to present their proposed changes to the programs before the City Council at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
Mayor Todd Gloria is encouraging San Diego residents to attend the meeting to share their thoughts on the technology.
