Two Buckhead communities will get more license plate readers as part of the neighborhood’s efforts to decrease crime.
Atlanta Councilman J.P. Matzigkeit’s office is donating $10,000 to the Atlanta Police Foundation to help put the cameras in the Wesley Battle and Collier Hills North communities. Buckhead sits in Matzigkeit’s district.
“If I am asking my neighborhoods to raise money and pay for cameras, then I need to put my money where my mouth is and put up money as well,” he said. The cameras will cost about $10,000, he said.
Related: Meet the new neighborhood watch: License-plate reading cameras.
Matzigkeit said the installation is part of a plan launched five years ago under former Councilwoman Yolanda Adrean to have license plate reader cameras installed in Buckhead to decrease crime.
In 2016, Adrean proposed adding 200 cameras in Buckhead that would have cost between $2.5 million and $3 million, Channel 2 Action News previously reported.
The cameras that read license plates have become increasingly common in metro communities, used to monitor neighborhood streets and homes. They record license plate numbers of cars that pass by, storing the information for a short time. Many neighborhoods who have installed the cameras also have agreements with law enforcement agencies to access their camera footage when it could help solve crimes.
Crime has been a hot-button issue for Buckhead residents. The area had a spate of car thefts and robberies earlier this year.
“This is something that we can do as a neighborhood to help support Atlanta police in making the city safer,” Matzigkeit said.
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