Oakland police seeks expansion of automated camera network, incorporation of private cameras

Should the Oakland Police Department invest in more surveillance cameras and expand its video network to include private cameras? That was the question that was supposed to come before the Public Safety Committee at its regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday afternoon, but that meeting was canceled due to the lack of a quorum.

It's been a controversial issue ever since the City of Oakland partnered with Flock cameras two years ago. Both those in support and in opposition held rallies outside City Hall Tuesday afternoon, rallies that were planned well ahead of the meeting being canceled.

Longtime Oakland business owner Richard Santana has run Café Santana on MacArthur Boulevard in the Laurel neighorhood for more than a decade, and says he has had to change the way he does business because