LA residents put stop to rampant break-ins with cameras, security system—now city wants to take it down

Homeowners in Los Angeles are clashing with municipal officials over neighborhood-installed warning signs and surveillance equipment that residents say halted a surge in crime. The local government wants to tear down the signs and cameras.

After a string of burglaries blamed on South American theft crews, neighbors in Valley Glen in the San Fernando Valley, installed 22 warning placards along with infrared license plate readers and security cameras. According to local neighbor Debbie Stopeck, there were 26 break-ins from November 2024 through April 2025. She said break-ins stopped when the devices were installed, per the New York Post.

The 65-year-old retiree told reporters, “We are taking back the streets. We are taking back the power. Last year, my neighbor’s teenage daughter was too scared to go to school because their home was broken into. Everything was stolen from them.”

“Now we have kids who are happy to be outside and play on the streets. We went from a high level of crime in 2025 to zero once we got these cameras and warning signs installed,” she added. “They are public safety signs telling bad actors that when you come into this neighborhood there are cameras and you’re being watched.”

“The criminals need to know they’re under surveillance when they come into our neighborhood. The signs make them think twice,” she added. However, officials with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation have claimed that attaching the signs to city-owned utility poles violates municipal regulations and they need to be taken down. Stopeck said she hopes Karen Bass and Gavin Newsom will intervene. “I would love to hear from Bass or Newsom, but I haven’t heard from anybody yet. I would tell them how I solved the problem."

“I worked for 36 years for the state of California, and I was a problem solver.” She argued the mayor should grant exceptions. Local city council member Adrin Nazarian met with residents and said: “I love the proactive community engagement I’m seeing in neighborhoods like this, and I appreciate the initiative these neighbors have taken to protect their community.

“We’ll be working with the Department of Transportation and community members to make sure that signage is displayed in the manner most appropriate to ensure public safety.” He later pledged to seek a “workable solution.”

Stopeck said police told her groups from Colombia and Chile had been behind the thefts, including stolen license plates and car break-ins. “We don’t have that anymore,” she said.

Residents split the cost of three plate readers and three live-stream cameras, paying several thousand dollars annually, coming out to about $220 per household. Information on suspicious vehicles is shared with LAPD.

“The cameras are an investment. My neighbors feel they are worthy and obviously make a huge difference. I’ve lived in the same house all my life. I played here as a kid. I want my street to be safe for neighbors who have children to play without fear of being robbed,” Stopeck said.