SAN DIEGO — San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl announced Monday that the Safe Streetlights program has been successful and is seeking city council approval to relocate cameras and potentially expand the program.
He also mentioned he would like to see the program grow.
"I would love to be able to expand the program for a city of this size," said Chief Wahl. "We have to have the financial resources to do that, we're looking for that support from the community in trying to grow this program."
Chief Wahl gave an update on the program during a news conference where he was joined by Mayor Todd Gloria and Councilmember Marni von Wilpert, the head of the public safety committee.
Wahl said since the program started in 2023, SDPD has arrested more than 160 suspects, including kidnapping suspects. He said they've recovered more than 160 stolen vehicles, removed 7 firearms off the streets, recovered $2.2 million in stolen property, and located one missing person.
Right now, there are a little less than 500 cameras in use. He said there are 40 that haven't been installed yet due to infrastructure issues.
Meanwhile, critics have raised issues of privacy concerns. Some are worried specific neighborhoods are being unfairly targeted. Many of the issues were brought up over the summer when SDPD used its emergency powers to install Smart Streetlight cameras in parts of Hillcrest ahead of the San Diego Pride Parade.
Councilmember von Wilpert said if SDPD hadn't used its emergency powers, it would've taken months to go through the council.
However, Seth Hall of San Diego Privacy, a group that supports the city's Privacy Advisory Board, is concerned about where this is all leading.
"The question here is, 'When does it end?' There doesn’t appear to be any situation city leaders are willing to admit where we decide we have enough mass surveillance," he said. "Every time we turn around the request is to add more. And just to remind our audience here, none of this is free. It all costs the city a lot of money, money spent in this way means we cannot spend it in other ways."
The price tag of the 5-year program is nearly $12 million. Ubicquia Inc. and Flock Safety, are the companies the city partnered with to operate the program.
A spokesperson for SDPD said there's no estimate yet on what the price tag would be to expand the program. She said the item Chief Wahl wants the council to consider right now is giving SDPD the power to move the cameras.