San Francisco to install license plate reader at Twin Peaks after deadly shooting, break-ins

ByTim Johns KGO logo

Thursday, September 21, 2023

SF to install license plate reader at Twin Peaks amid rise in crime

San Francisco Mayor London Breed says the city will install a license plate reader at Twin Peaks in wake of recent rise in crime.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- There's a growing safety concern in San Francisco's Twin Peaks neighborhood after a shooting left one man dead.

"The victim was in a vehicle when the suspect pulled alongside the victim. The victim exited his vehicle and walked over towards the suspect at which time he was shot once in the upper body," said SFPD Chief Bill Scott.

The shooting at the tourist hotspot took place in the early hours of Sunday morning.

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The incident is the latest in a string of crimes that have hit the area in recent times, Mayor London Breed says - who called the shooting a "targeted incident" during an in-studio interview Tuesday.

"Twin Peaks has been a bit of a hot spot for some time now. Car breaks-ins and other violence incidents have taken place, but it's the most beautiful, iconic destination in San Francisco and so we have to look at some solutions," Breed said.

Breed's office says some of those solutions will be a camera on the gate at the entrance to Twin Peaks on Portola Drive, as well as a new license plate reader.

Ideas that sound good to local resident, Eric Farb.

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"I do support it because I've lived here for a while and I've had my house broken into," he said.

Farb isn't alone either.

Several residents in the area told us they too worry about their safety.

"Maybe cameras would be good, I don't know. Anything to help solve the problem and at least catch the people that are doing it," said Dave Yonemoto.

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Dave and his wife Jan say they've also been victimized multiple times.

Dave says it's gotten especially bad over the past five years.

"I still think it's the people the come from the outside. They feel there's no security, there's no cops. You know they break into cars, they steal catalytic converters," he said.

And while the city grapples with trying to address problems in Twin Peaks, Farb says he hopes local leaders don't forget about crime in other parts of the city too.

"It's been more and more brazen in recent times, where people are getting held up at gunpoint. And so it's getting weird. It's getting really weird," Farb said.