Using new tech

CHP only needed hours to locate Bay Bridge shooter using new tech

By Silas Valentino

After appearing on Bay Area highways three months ago, a system of cameras monitored by the California Highway Patrol was used in an arrest for the first time earlier this month after officials said a driver fired a weapon on the Bay Bridge.

CHP announced the arrest in a news release on Friday, noting that the suspect was discovered in a Bay Area city using newly installed Flock cameras. The agency began contracting with the Atlanta startup Flock Safety in April to install 480 surveillance cameras throughout Oakland streets and East Bay freeways.

CHP Sgt. Andrew Barclay told SFGATE in a phone interview that the case was a “great example” of how the network can assist the department.

“We went from incident to arrest in less than five hours,” he said. “It allows us to be timely in our response and identify a person who poses a danger to the public. Someone who’s willing to open fire on a crowded bridge is someone we want to take into custody as soon as possible.”

According to the new release, the shooting occurred on July 1 following “a road rage incident” on the Bay Bridge around 6:40 a.m. Officers responded to a call about a freeway shooting near the westbound Treasure Island on-ramp. CHP said they found a driver with minor injuries due to shattered glass who told them he was a victim of a shooting following a “merging conflict” with a Honda Accord.

“A description of the suspect vehicle was obtained, allowing detectives to begin a review of Flock camera data,” CHP wrote in the release. “Detectives quickly identified the suspect vehicle and obtained a license plate number, which allowed them to issue a ‘Be on the lookout’ broadcast to Bay Area law enforcement agencies.”

A few hours later, around 10:20 a.m., Contra Costa County sheriff’s deputies located a vehicle matching the description in Richmond. The driver was a 42-year-old man from San Pablo, and CHP said a pistol was discovered in his vehicle that they believe was used in the shooting.

The man was changed with attempted murder, assault with a firearm and discharging a firearm from a vehicle and booked into San Francisco County Jail.

CHP said it collects, stores and shares data from the Flock Safety cameras for up to 28 days. Critics pushed back against the system due to privacy concerns, including a senior staff attorney with the nonprofit digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation, who described the network as a form of “mass surveillance” to SFGATE in April. 

Barclay said the system is designed only to assist with major crimes. 

“Is there a threshold? Absolutely,” he said. “But this is a good example where a violent crime occurred and everyone clearly knows that our job is to find that individual and remove them from the road before they could do that again. ”