'We're Ready For Anything:' Sherman Oaks Homeowners Install License Plate Readers To Deter Crime
SHERMAN OAKS (CBSLA) — Homeowners in one Sherman Oaks neighborhood have banded together to keep a close eye on the vehicles coming in and out of their community.
Robert Shontell is one of three homeowners who has eyes on all the cars on his closed loop street after he and his neighbors decided to pay for license plate readers from Flock Safety to be installed at both entry points. You can't get in or out of the neighborhood without going past their cameras.
"Six hundred cars a day going through here. It's a quiet street, you'd never think so," he said.
Shontell told CBS2/KCAL9's Rachel Kim once images are captured, they're uploaded into an encrypted Cloud server. If a resident becomes a victim of a crime, they can request a search for all the cars that were in the neighborhood on that date and between a certain time frame. You can even search by the type of car or color if you know it.
"It does shine an infrared light on the plate to help the system to get a good read on them," he explained.
Pam Dougherty helped get residents on board to install the cameras in the early summer to stop criminals. She says the cameras brought neighbors together and have provided one more layer of security.
"We feel it's just one more thing we can do in case there is an incident. We can go back to that camera and take a look," she said, adding, "The police have told us time after time, they only thing they can really go by is a license plate number."
So far, there's been no reason to do a search. And residents want to keep it that way.
"We're ready for anything that does happen," she said.
