Manhattan Beach surveilance cameras increase arrests, raise concerns
Manhattan Beach surveilance cameras at Aviation Boulevard and Marine Avenue. Photo (CivicCouch.com) On a Wednesday afternoon early last December, Manhattan Beach Police Officer Wil Pereira was on motorcycle patrol when a call came through dispatch that a stolen van had just entered the city. A camera at 45th and Highland, part of the MBPD’s Automated License Plate Reader system, had received a ping. The van had been reported stolen a week earlier in Los Angeles. “I happened to be on a motorcycle in the area and lo and behold happened to be face-to-face with the driver of the vehicle at Marine and Highland as he approached,” Pereira said. “He was going southbound on Highland and I was going west on Marine.” Pereira remembers that the van was “very normal looking,” just a white Chevy, a workingman’s van. The guy at the wheel by all appearances was on his way to a work site. He was in his mid-50s and wore a white t-shirt. “Like a construction worker,” the officer said. Before Pereira could even flip on his siren, the van took a right on Marine and pulled in front of a garage a few houses down towards the beach. The motorcycle officer pulled up right behind him. “He gives me this…
Read this story on easyreadernews.com