The Student News Site of Redwood High School

Redwood Bark

Redwood Bark

Redwood Bark

Students consider various cultural perspectives in Professor Eddie Madril’s Ethnic Studies class. (Image courtesy )
TUHSD approves new ethnic studies course despite curriculum concerns
Michael SetonMarch 28, 2024

A new ethnic studies course will be introduced in the 2024-25 school year after a recent four to one vote by the Tamalpais Union High School...

Boldly standing out, an outdated air system contrasts the nature of Redwoods campus.
The Impact of the potential ‘NO’ on Measure A
Emily Hitchcock, Web Designer • March 28, 2024

As the clock ticks down to see if Measure A will pass, its current ‘Yes’ count is at 53.8 percent, with 55 needed to pass. An estimated 50...

The great divide of special education: the 504 plan
The great divide of special education: the 504 plan
Nina HowardMarch 28, 2024

As of 2018, up to one in four students at elite colleges were considered legally disabled due to mental health issues, learning differences or...

Belvedere City Council votes in favor of license plate scanning cameras

Last month, the City Council of Belvedere agreed to purchase cameras to track the license plates of vehicles entering and leaving the city.

The City Council unanimously voted on Nov. 10 for the implementation of these four license plate cameras due to recent property crime. According to police chief Trisha Seyler, the town saw a significant increase in crime this past July.

Tiburon's license plate  cameras lie along Belvedere Blvd. and Paradise Dr. Last month, the City Council of Belvedere voted to implement similar cameras in Belvedere to combat recent property crime.
Tiburon’s license plate cameras lie along Belvedere Blvd. and Paradise Dr. Last month, the City Council of Belvedere voted to implement similar cameras in Belvedere to combat recent property crime.

The projected cost of the camera installation is $46,385, according to Seyler. The cameras will take a photograph of the rear license plate on all cars that enter or leave Belvedere.

“[The cameras] will more closely monitor vehicles coming and going,” Seyler said. “It will give us a much smaller sample size when investigating crime than the cameras in Tiburon will.”

The town of Tiburon implemented six surveillance cameras along Belvedere Blvd. and Paradise Dr. in February of 2010. The decision was in partnership with the Belvedere City Council.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a group against the implementation of the cameras, is questioning whether the cameras are a violation of privacy, according to the Marin ACLU chapter secretary Bob Harmon.

“The question is, during a criminal investigation if the privately stored information is invasive to [innocent] people,” Harmon said.

Although the cameras are intended to keep the community safe, the ACLU feels as though the amount of crimes committed are only a small fraction of the data the authorities collect.

Seyler assured the cameras would only keep the footage of license plates for 30 days before being deleted. The only instance in which the police would access the stored data would be due to a criminal investigation.

“We would be able to come up with possible leads for the time the crime was committed,” Seyler said.

The ACLU’s concern over the privacy of innocent people in a criminal case has been supported in other cities with similar surveillance systems.

A single resident in disagreement with the surveillance could raise the issue of invasion of privacy, according to Harmon. If that were to be the case, a second decision could be determined by a future election if there is disagreement between the residents and the City Council.

 

More to Discover
About the Contributor
Isabelle Marmur, Author