Rancho Cordova Police Chief Says Surveillance Cameras Have Already Cut Crime
RANCHO CORDOVA (CBS13) — The Rancho Cordova Police Department is installing surveillance cameras showing live feeds in public areas.
Police say they heard from people in certain neighborhoods who said they didn't feel safe. That's why you'll see clearly labeled cameras in the Cordova Meadows area, and more are coming.
James Miller noticed the cameras and thinks that's just what's needed.
"If people notice it, it will stop a lot of crime in this area," he said. "It's for the criminals. I mean, if you're doing something on the street, they'll catch it."
That's just what Rancho Cordova Police Chief Michael Goold hopes will happen after his department installed a handful of cameras in the neighborhood two weeks ago.
"The beginning of last month we had a couple of drive-by shootings in that neighborhood. and in the last three weeks, we haven't had one," he said.
The cameras provide live surveillance to the police station and to sergeants in their vehicles. Having that real-time access means they can do more than just deter crime. They can help officers stop criminals in the act.
Ed Manansala lives down the street and attended the packed town hall meetings where his neighbors talked about the rise in crime and asked for cameras.
Funding is coming from the Measure H sales-tax increase approved by voters last fall to improve public safety. Each cluster of cameras at an intersection costs about $2,500.
Some worry about their privacy and compare it to something out of George Orwell's "1984," but Goold says there's no need to worry.
"We're not looking into people's windows or intimate places where people have an expectation of privacy," he said.