City crews installed octagonal, yellow and black signs throughout downtown Hollister on Friday afternoon, indicating the presence of security cameras throughout the area, which a week from now will be teeming with bikers attending the annual motorcycle rally.
A two-man crew on ladders worked its way up and down San Benito Street, affixing the signs — which read “Security Notice: Cameras In Operation” — to traffic signal poles. The signs also feature the image of a security camera on them.
Hollister Mayor Ignacio Velazquez on Friday afternoon said he was not aware the signs were going up until he saw them being installed that morning. “I’m sure it’s part of the program for the rally,” he said. “I’m sure it helps, People can’t say they’re not aware of the cameras.”
At the end of last year’s Hollister Motorcycle Rally, Police Chief David Westrick said the security cameras were “an early-warning system” for law enforcement. The cameras worked so well, in fact, that Westrick said he had a backlog of incidents which his department investigated after the Fourth of July weekend festivities. While he said the cameras last year captured “nothing of major consequence,” he said there were incidents captured on film “that we wouldn’t have seen had we not had the cameras.”
Two summers ago, the Hollister Police Department borrowed surveillance cameras from the federal government, though Westrick said there were fewer of them “and they weren’t as sophisticated” as the ones now installed throughout downtown, as approved by the Hollister City Council.