Faced with less than 200 burglaries a year on average, law enforcement authorities in the small town of Tiburon, California have decided to propose a high-tech surveillance system. Geographically isolated by mountains and water in Marin County, there are only two roads in and out so cameras can be easily situated.

Tiburon Police Chief Michael Cronin, is pitching the idea of installing closed circuit TV (CCTV) security video cameras on Tiburon Boulevard and Paradise Drive. The idea is they’d be able to capture cars and licenses of individuals suspected of committing those crimes in a much more efficient manner.

Their response to privacy concerns seem to be twofold. First, procedure for reviewing the data would require a formal investigation to be started. Otherwise the data will rest unseen. Second, only the back of the vehicles will be recorded.

This reminds me of a car I saw once in Santa Cruz, California that had placed a sheet of notebook paper over the license plate. The driver and passenger were reclined so far in their seats you could not see them from behind. Obviously avoiding high-tech surveillance systems, let alone human ones, is both well known and also fairly low-tech.

I am not opposed to using detection technology, but I think the better solution given the low crime rate is to educate residents on prevention such as the need to lock doors and hide valuables. It seems the police have already explained this in the town newsletter:

Most of the crimes occurred between midnight and dawn,
and most were thefts from unlocked cars.

All of that being said, I have to wonder about the police statement that “most of those arrested in these incidents did not live on the peninsula”. Are we talking about a vast majority, or just a little over half? What is the rate of conviction for local versus outsider suspects?