Public safety commission meets as surveillance debate grows Play

Malibu's public safety commission meets Tuesday night, as buzz builds about the city's surveillance cameras, the 10 automatic speed cameras being installed on PCH, drones, and worries about Big Brother.

Flock cameras are not used by the L.A. County sheriff's deputies in Malibu. They use a different company.

The local sheriff's department says the automated license plate readers are invaluable. Sheriff's Sgt. Chris Soderlund told the city council last week that he knows they are controversial.

"I know the license plate reader cameras have been in the news a lot lately. I want to share a success story with you," Soderlund said. "Back on July 5, one of our deputies took a report of a vehicle that had been burglarized near Surfrider Beach and the victim's credit cards were used at the Westfield Topanga Mall to pay for goods. The mall security cameras and the automatic license plate reader at the mall detected two vehicles were connected to the fraudulent purchase."

It was just a matter of time before those two vehicles showed up at another car burglary over here in Malibu.

"A vehicle burglary call came out at Paradise Cove in Malibu. The deputy who had taken all these other reports noticed that the Suburban and the Nissan were in the area where the license plate reader was," Soderlund said. "So he was able to follow those vehicles to Beverly Hills and coordinate with the Beverly Hills Police Department. Using the license plate reader system, he was able to solve five vehicle burglaries from Malibu and the approximate loss was about $50,000."

Just over the hill, the Ventura County sheriff's office says automated license plate readers have helped prevent and solve crime at retail shopping areas, including the popular Camarillo Premium Outlets.