Closed-circuit cameras weighed as crime deterrent
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/10/2007 (6569 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
It’s a question police in Toronto are currently studying and one Winnipeg city hall has toyed with in the past, but rejected because of the cost.
However, it’s being talked about again as officials try to deal with crime in and around Portage Place and the MTS Centre.
Police resources are already stretched, and some say police-operated closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance cameras would deter crime, and help identify offenders quickly if a crime was recorded on camera.
There are already security cameras in Portage Place and in many businesses downtown.
The problem is that these camera systems are limited. “The cameras are set up for the security of the building and the people in it,” APTN executive news producer Neil Coligan said of his building’s cameras. “Not the outside.”
Outside Portage Place, where a noon-hour stabbing Tuesday horrified onlookers, no cameras are visible. The closest one is inside the Transit bus shelter.
APTN’s exterior camera is focused on only part of Air Canada Park at the corner of Portage Avenue and Carlton Street. It’s the only one visible in the area.
People who work in the area say when the camera was put up it moved some drug dealers out of the park to areas they couldn’t be watched, but Coligan isn’t so sure.
He said for any camera system to work, it’s got to be backed up by a quick police response.
“Would it make a difference?” he asked of a police-run CCTV system.
“People become involved in these things (crime) because they assume nobody is doing anything about it, and they can get away with it.”
Stefano Grande, executive director of the Downtown BIZ, said another issue with the current system — surveillance cameras installed inside buildings all over the place — is that they are not integrated. If they were, videos of a single crime could easily be recovered from a number of cameras to identify suspects.
“But without police responding, how effective is the technology?” he said.
Toronto police are presently nearing the end of a six-month trial of CCTV in public places.
Toronto Police chief Bill Blair has said the CCTV cameras act as a deterrent to people engaging in crime and at same time capture evidence for court when people choose to commit crime.
Police CCTV systems are used by police agencies all over the world, but are only now gaining acceptance in Canada.