Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} As part of an ongoing effort to make North Park safer, surveillance cameras will be added to Alba High School in the uptown neighborhood to give police a view of the area around the school.
The cameras will be installed this month by the San Diego Unified School District and police will have access to them when needed. Beyond that, there aren’t any larger plans to bring more cameras to the rest of the neighborhood, though it’s an idea being discussed.
A push for enhanced policing came in response to a string of assaults on women this summer that left many shaken. A 23-year-old man, David Angelo Drake, was arrested earlier this month in connection to many of them. However, police say another suspect is still on the loose.
We spoke with several women in North Park, some of whom liked the idea of surveillance cameras.
“Absolutely. All the way,” one woman said. “That would even make us more confident. More safe (so) you know we could walk around with fear.”
The city’s tried installing cameras in the past as a crime deterrent, when two college girls were raped in Mission Beach in 2007. Police installed the cameras near Belmont Park. They were supposed to be manned by officers 24 hours a day.
But within three years, police stopped controlling the cameras and currently they are no longer operating.
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That stymied plan has some questioning whether it would be effective in North Park.
“If that didn’t make a difference, why would it make a difference here,” one woman said.
That's one thing to take into account, officials say, as they consider public safety options for North Park.
