Some Oakley residents say they’re not going to take it anymore. Fed up with burglaries… as well as car smash and grab thefts, they are mounting a defense. They’re fighting back with cameras, and lots of them. Neighbors are keeping watch on those cameras. As Local 12’s Deborah Dixon shows us, thugs and thieves are getting caught in the act.
So far, 60 residents who feel that way are part of a group called Oakrap-Oakely Crime Reporting and Prevention. They’ve gone high tech to catch a thief. “We’re running 16 cameras, another 10 or 12 online in 15 days.”
For Tom Frey the last straw was when his outdoor fire pit was stolen before his Halloween party. After that, he installed motion detectors around his yard. Different zones give off different beeps. Last week, Tom heard the beeps just before the motion light in his yard went on. Outside, he saw a man and a woman, looking in cars and going into yards and on porches.The whole encounter was caught on tape. Tom drove after them as he called police. Greg Atkins was arrested for criminal trespass. The woman got away… for now. “She thinks she got away. We got good facial recognition on her.”
When Frey isn’t around he can still monitor 8 cameras on his smart phone. Some of those cameras are blocks from where he lives. For the cops, it’s extra eyes to help patrol the east side’s 14 neighborhoods. “Video surveillance is a good thing for us, it’s great documentation when something is captured on film.”
Frey helped other families in the neighborhood set up similar security systems. All the video is streamed on a secure website.
