San Jose is turning to mobile security units in hopes of deterring crime.
City leaders hope the booming recorded voice and the video cameras on the mobile security units will help reduce crime.
"We can never be everywhere all at once," police Chief Paul Joseph said. "What these cameras allow us to do is give an eye to a location where a problem is occurring. Allows us to hopefully deter crime from happening in the first place, but unfortunately if a crime does occur, give us evidence so we can identify, apprehend and prosecute a suspect."
Right now, one unit is posted at Lion Plaza and another is across the street off Tully Road, but that could change.
"These cameras can be mobile, they don't have to be stationary in one area. We can move them wherever our business owners deem strategic to deter crimes from happening," Councilmember Domingo Candelas said.
Some people have expressed concerns about privacy and how long the images the cameras capture will be kept.
"We are not routinely storing all of this data, so there is not a retention policy because we are not storing images unless there is a crime," Joseph said.
San Jose is not the only city using this technology, San Francisco rolled out similar units last month.
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