East Palo Alto looks to install license plate reader network

East Palo Alto is looking to join the growing list of Bay Area cities with license-plate-reading cameras installed by law enforcement. The mayor and police chief believe these cameras will also help East Palo Alto improve its reputation.

As he heads out into the community he's proud to serve, Police Chief Jeff Liu says East Palo Alto is on a mission.

"We're going to make East Palo Alto safer," he said.

One way to achieve that goal would be the addition of automated license plate readers (ALPRs), like the ones by Flock Safety that other Bay Area communities are utilizing.

"Agencies up and down the Peninsula are using Flock cameras and they're so successful," he said. "We've always been under resourced. Let's change that."

Liu pointed out numerous intersections where he'd like to see ALPRs be put to use, such as the intersection of Bell and University.

"Right across the street over here, earlier this year, Frank Finney was murdered in a brutal stabbing," Liu said. "When we watched surveillance video that we got from a Shell gas station across the street, we saw a white SUV pull right up along University, stop, back up and pull up and watch the entire murder take place."

Liu believes had ALPRs been in place, it would have greatly helped East Palo Alto PD's abilities to solve the crime and track down suspects and witnesses.

"If we had the Flock cameras, we would have had a license plate and we'd have a direction to go. We'd know who to go contact and ask what they saw," he said. "You can't stop all crime, but we can increase our odds in solving a crime when it does occur."

Some people who live in the area, however, aren't thrilled about the idea.

"I think it's an invasion of privacy," said Pablo, who declined to give his last name, who lives in East Palo Alto.

Aside from his privacy concerns, he's skeptical the plate readers would prove to be successful.

"I understand they want to catch people with stolen vehicles and stolen license plates and everything like that, but there are other forms of doing it," he said.

"This is an investigative tool - there's nobody sitting there watching cameras and following cars around," Liu said. "These are just pictures of the backs of cars driving on public streets. Anybody with a cell phone could be out there recording the same information in the public right of way."

Mayor Antonio Lopez is pushing for the city to adopt the ALPR technology.

"You know, we're a city that is transforming. I'm really proud that we had zero homicides last year - given our history of being the murder capital in the 90's - we want to continue to build on that public safety record. It's important that we have this technology to keep our children and families safe," he said. "We all have to do our part. If that means that in high traffic areas and areas of facilities, folks lose a little bit of privacy for the sake of keeping folks safe, I think that everybody in this community - given all of the tragedy, trauma, and pain, that we've gone through as a community in our 40-year history - I think that's a small price to pay to prevent further deaths."

The mayor believes that if East Palo Alto moves forward with the technology, it would benefit surrounding communities as well.

"This is going to benefit everyone. I think it's the perfect time to introduce this technology, which again, isn't novel - it's been used, it's been tested, battle-tested - and I think it will greatly benefit our residents in East Palo Alto," he said. "The more we keep our community safe, the safer other areas in our county in San Mateo are safe as well. We want to do our part; we want to collaborate," Lopez said.

East Palo Alto has come a long way since it was dubbed murder capital of the nation back in 1992. In 2023, the city reported zero homicides.

"We're not happy with having the reputation of being a rough city, and we're going to change that," Liu said. "We still have a lot of work to do."

This year, East Palo Alto has seen two homicides, per Liu. The plan is to make an official proposal for ALPRs to the city in September.