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October, 2023 - To the North Oaks City Council and the NOHOA Board of Directors:
We, the undersigned, do not believe cameras (including license plate readers) and/or gates should be approved by the City Council or the NOHOA Board of Directors without a transparent discussion that considers all resident and member concerns.
These concerns include the following:
These security measures infringe upon our privacy rights. We want to come and go to and from our homes and through the city entrances without being monitored and recorded. The city and NOHOA have not sufficiently explained how data will be collected, retained, and used. Gates and/or cameras represent a fundamental shift in our experience as residents. Most current residents purchased homes here with the understanding that North Oaks is not a gated community. Gates and/or cameras would significantly impact how we—and our children, guests, delivery and service people—would experience daily life in North Oaks. Gates and cameras are bad for our community image and reputation. They would project negative messages and values to our visitors and surrounding communities—that we are unwelcoming, accusatory, and elitist.
There is no guarantee gates or cameras would reduce crime. City leadership has not provided objective data regarding the effectiveness of gates or cameras on crime. Use of gates or cameras also presumes all crimes are committed by people who are not residents or legitimate visitors.
We live in a low-crime community. Proponents of gates and cameras continue to use examples of crime in other communities to justify these extreme security measures. The proposed actions are not proportional to the very low, non-violent, and mostly crimes of opportunity actually taking place here. As Deputy Lassegard has repeatedly stated, statistics show locking vehicles and homes, closing garage doors, and knowing one's neighbors are actions that increase safety. We want our tax dollars and NOHOA dues used judiciously. Our community has so many other areas in great need of funding. Gates and cameras are costly, not fiscally responsible, and have no proven return on investment. More intensive and expensive measures of unproven effectiveness in an already-low crime community are not an efficient use of scarce city resources. City leadership has an ethical obligation to weigh all community opinions when making community decisions. The current City Council is moving forward quickly with extreme security measures without consideration for community members who are voicing concerns via letters, social media comments, and public comments at city meetings. We can see this will not be the end. City leadership has already discussed going beyond the proposed license plate readers to cameras with facial recognition capabilities, noting that we could have cameras that see people’s “complexions.” (Continued)
