San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced Friday that the city's police department can soon begin installation of 400 license plate surveillance cameras.
Breed said she has signed an ordinance authorizing distribution of $15.3 million in grants to the San Francisco Police Department and $2 million to the District Attorney's Office from the state's Organized Retail Theft Prevention Grant Program.
The grants will be used to install cameras, dubbed automated license plate readers, at 100 intersections around the city and will also help pay for other equipment and vehicles "to enhance operations as part of our organized retail theft and catalytic converter theft strategy," Breed said.
"We are making progress disrupting crimes and we are sending a message that San Francisco is not tolerating criminal activity of any kind," Breed said in a news release. "These license plate readers can play a critical role in disrupting retail theft, car break-ins, sideshows, and other criminal activity."
Breed didn't say when the cameras will be installed but did say she "directed staff and departments to cut through red tape" and work with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and the city's Public Utilities Commission to put cameras on poles as quickly as possible.
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