Carmel cracks down on crime with security cameras

The city of Carmel-by-the-Sea is planning to install six security cameras through the city in an effort to protect the community, deter crime and catch criminals.

The cameras would be installed at areas like the Pebble Beach gate, Carpenter Street, Ocean Avenue and near the mission on Rio Road.

“We have an opportunity in Carmel with our geographic, the way we’re laid out,” said Carmel Police Chief Paul Tomasi. “So there’s very few exits out of town, so if we put up a few cameras around town, we can capture people coming in and out of our town.”

The cameras, which would be mounted on power poles, would have license plate readers, which could prove useful in investigating a crime.

The information, which would not be shared with national databases, would be stored at Carmel Police for about six months.

The chief said it would be like having another officer on the job 24/7.

“If I told you I could put an officer at six different positions leading out of the town and they’ll watch every single car leaving town, and if we have a burglary in town, that officer will be able to recall that information and tell you what the license plate was and vehicle description, that’d be great,” Tomasi said. “But in reality, I can’t do that. I can’t put an officer at every single exit out of our town.”

The small city of Carmel is seeing big jumps in assaults, burglaries and thefts.

In fact from 2011 to now, assaults have more than doubled. Burglaries and thefts have gone up more than 50-percent. Authorities believe it’s because of voter-approved Propositions 47 and 57, which turned certain felonies into misdemeanors and AB109, which moved some prison inmates into county jails.

Jason Johnson and his wife have owned Le Bijou, a fine jewelry store in Carmel for more than 30 years. While his business hasn’t been targeted before, some of his colleagues have.

“There’s been a lot of incidents where people have actually gotten away with jewelry robberies,” Johnson said. “Our best system right now, all of the jewelers know each other and we call each other when something happens, that’s been our best system. But I think it’s a good idea to have that extra security.”

The city is planning to install six cameras but if they can move the locations, that number would be reduced to four. The cost is at least $80,000 and if everything goes off without a hitch, the cameras could be up and running by the spring.

Carmel isn’t the only city in Monterey County doing this. King City and Soledad are also in the process of adding security cameras in their communities.