EXCLUSIVE: Orinda residents pay to install cameras after 108 home burglaries
ORINDA, Calif. (KGO) -- Home burglaries in Orinda have led a group of residents to pay to install their own license plate reader cameras to protect their neighborhood.
ABC7 News reporter Luz Pena spoke to the Mayor of Orinda about their plan as the city council gears up to vote on Tuesday, May 6 on expanding their own camera network.
On April 18, 2025, at 4 a.m., multiple angles captured several men trying to break into a home in Orinda. This is one of many incidents that have residents here on edge.
"It's gangs of people who are doing this. This is not just the average one-off crime. These are organized criminals that come here and do this stuff," said Julie, an Orinda resident.
Surveillance cameras have captured people casing homes and showing up hours later to steal.
"Sometimes they are coming for weapons or they are trying to come for jewelry. There has actually been home invasion robberies where people were held at gunpoint and this just has to stop," said Julie.
MORE: VIDEO: Suspects use pepper spray, hammers in brazen Orinda robbery
Several of Julie's neighbors have been victimized throughout the years.
"We have an open space behind us and that is one of the pathways that they use is that they come on foot after scoping the situation and they will just get what they can and get out of here," said Julie.
It happened to Evan Dreyer last January.
While his family was away, multiple men burglarized his home. Incidents like this have led residents to take collective action.
"We originally went to city council, made the ask for them to put cameras in this neighborhood and didn't follow through over the ensuing months. and said, 'Hey, there are lots of different priorities.' Maybe for them it is, but for us, this isn't a line item in a spreadsheet. This isn't some budget item. This is our family and our community and our safety," said Dreyer.
"I have met people in city council, and they are very nice people. It was not a top priority for them, it was for us," he added.
Around 30 Orinda families in the Knickerbocker neighborhood band together to install two license plate reader cameras.
"Anytime a car drives on either of these two roads up there, this camera turns on and it takes a snapshot of the car," said Dreyer.
The solar panel cameras are strategically placed.
"With just these two cameras, we can cover 200 families," said Dreyer.
Luz Peña: "Right now, who has access to the data from these cameras?"
Evan Dreyer: "All of the police departments in the Bay Area," and added, "The police do a fantastic job and that is why we want to invest and give them even more resources so they can do an even better job."
Each family in the group is paying about $400 for the two-year contract. Together, they are paying $11,300.
"It was kind of a no-brainer. Why wouldn't we invest in this?" said Jack, an Orinda resident.
Luz Peña: "Does it make you feel safer? Seeing these cameras out here?"
Jack: "Oh yeah, absolutely. It definitely makes everyone feel safer, but I think more importantly, it deters criminals from coming into this neighborhood."
We wanted to look into the data and contacted both the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Department and the Orinda Police Department, but both declined interviews.
MORE: 100 license plate reader cameras are live in SF. Mayor to criminals: 'You are going to be caught'
But during the April 15th city council meeting, Orinda police Chief Anthony Rossi broke down the city's latest crime data, confirming 108 residential burglaries from 2020 to 2024.
"Our residential burglaries, our commercial burglaries and our auto burglaries, as you can see we are on a good trend due to our productivity. We are starting to go down," said Chief Anthony Rossi.
These neighbors believe crime has gone down since these cameras went live in July of 2024.
Luz Peña: "In the last 8 months, what have you noticed?"
Evan Dreyer: "We have noticed a decrease in the suspicious vehicles roaming around. People know who these cameras are. The perpetrators are aware of these cameras."
These residents are not the only ones taking action. According to the latest city report, Orinda has more license plate readers by residents than its actual police department. Residents have installed 12 License Plate Readers, the police department has seven and is set to add two more.
"When there are lots of different neighborhoods coming to the same conclusion, that is where a government solution starts to make a lot more sense, especially when we are talking about a cost $2,500 to $3,000 per camera per year. This is not something that is going to break the budget," said Dreyer.
We wanted to see how much Orinda is spending in public safety.
Out of the city's $16.8 million budget, the city spends $5.8 million on the police contract. The city manager said they have 14 sworn positions. We asked Orinda's Mayor Latika Malkani about the police department.
Luz Peña: "How many officers are out there normally?"
Mayor Malkani: "We have two officers that are assigned to Orinda, but we also have the mutual aid agreement with neighboring communities so that in the event it's needed, other officers can assist promptly."
"Being tough on crime and being able to be safe in our neighborhood is something that we should have with our property taxes and our dollars. So I would like to see the city council prioritize cameras over some of the more wasteful things that are just looking nice or decorative or signs or things like that," said Julie.
Julie is talking about the "Welcome to Orinda" sign project. The project is set to cost about $300,000. The sign itself is $60,000
"I don't feel, I don't think the budgeting over the sign impacts our public safety budget. I think they're two different items," said Mayor Malkani.
Luz Peña: "Is there something wrong with the current sign?"
Mayor Malkani: "Yes. It needs to be replaced."
The two-year contract for these cameras is set to expire in 2026. These residents want the city to take them over.
The Mayor said the Knickerbocker neighborhood is already covered by city cameras, even though the city wouldn't specify where the cameras are located.
"We haven't made a decision yet as a full council as to whether or not to take on that bill that the residents are asking," said Mayor Malkani.
Luz Peña: "What's your message to these residents who are concerned and they are having to install these cameras and were hoping that the city was going to do something and since the city didn't, they did it themselves?"
Mayor Malkani: "Thank you for bringing your concerns to our attention. We heard you loud and clear. The residents' initiation of this issue, bringing it to light, resulted in it being on the agenda. I'm glad that our council is going to be able to consider adding 15 potentially up to 15 new cameras to our community."
The Orinda City Council is set to discuss adding 15 license plate reader cameras to their network during the May 6 council meeting.
Neighbors view this as an initial win.
"We don't have to wait for the city in order to take action, and that is what we did," said Dreyer.
These residents are hoping their unity inspires others.
"The great thing is that we did band together, so while it's frustrating that it isn't just solved for us, at least we are doing something. We are showing the way. We got a pilot program. We have been able to turn information over to the police to help solve crimes and we want this to expand in the neighborhood," said Julie.
INTERACTIVE: Take a look at the ABC7 Neighborhood Safety Tracker
