OAKLAND (KRON) – New security cameras are going up all over Chinatown in Oakland.
It’s an additional layer of security in an area hit hard over the past year by criminals targeting members of the AAPI community.
Chinatown Chamber of Commerce President Carl Chan says the surveillance cameras will serve as a deterrent for those wanting to commit crimes as well as an investigative tool to help police identify suspects.
Twenty surveillance cameras were donated by San Mateo cloud-based video security service Verkada Inc.
Chan wants to ensure the public that these surveillance cameras will not be used to spy on people who come to Chinatown.
“We have to evaluate. It has to be related to crime. It has to be relating to something, not to surveillance others,” Chan said.
It’s important to note the security cameras are not being used to take the place of police patrols in this area.
“We in Chinatown support police presence. We are against defunding the police. Any district in Oakland that they do not like police to patrol in that area, we welcome for them to send their policemen to our area. We welcome them,” said Albert Wong, who lives in Oakland’s Chinatown.
Oakland’s Temple Sinai Reform Synagogue is also supporting Chinatown security efforts by funding the cost to install cameras at 10th Street and Webster, with a goal of adopting camera installation from Franklin to Harrison and 7th to 12th Streets.