Pubdate: Tue, 16 Apr 2002
Source: Daily Courier, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2002 The Okanagan Valley Group of Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.theokanagan.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/531
Author:  J.P. Squire

POLICE PLAN TO DOCUMENT SPY CAMERA'S USEFULNESS

The number of hypodermic needles and frequency of open sex, urinating and 
vandalism is down in Kasugai Gardens, but that apparently isn't enough for 
the national privacy commissioner.

So Kelowna RCMP will try to document the impact of a surveillance camera in 
another public area downtown.

"I think (those figures) are a fair indication that we're on the right 
track with our safety camera," said Supt. Don Harrison.

"However, our problem is a very small field of view, so we can't get a 
definitive answer whether it's effective or not."

Harrison plans to move the surveillance camera from Queensway to one of 
eight other potential locations downtown by next summer.

He wants to compare crime stats before and after the camera installation 
and also examine stats from adjacent zones downtown to see if the camera 
presence simply shifts a crime problem to another area.

"He's 100 per cent correct; we don't have any crime statistics," admitted 
Harrison.

Canadian privacy commissioner George Radwanski had a "no comment" from his 
Ottawa office.

Staff had not received any information about the RCMP's plans and "would 
have to make inquiries and analyse this before comment," said staff.

You don't have to sell Joe Creron on the effectiveness of the camera 
mounted on a pole beside Kasugai Gardens.

"Without a doubt, it's working," the parks manager said Monday.

"You don't get the riffraff in there anymore. Before the camera, I've seen 
people urinating, drinking in there. We found tons of needles, there was 
lots of sex (with prostitutes), lots of partying. I found one guy 
defecating in there; they had toilet paper rigged up to a tree. You don't 
get that anymore."

Creron admits Radwanski may be right in saying the camera simply moves the 
problem to another area of the downtown.

"If they're going into areas not frequented by the general public, then 
it's safer for the public. I don't have kids running around back alleys but 
they are running around Kasugai Gardens, rolling on the grass, hiding in 
the bushes around City Hall."

Five years ago, a city employee was pricked by a hypodermic needle as he 
emptied a garbage bin in another park.

"There's been five years of testing to see if he has AIDS. The stress on 
the family was huge. It's a sorry state of affairs when you have to worry 
about needles in a public park."

Perhaps Radwanski should spend the summer in Kasugai Gardens by himself and 
without a surveillance camera to see what really goes on, suggests Creron. 
"It's frightening."

Kelowna's top cop has studied a legal opinion by former Supreme Court of 
Canada justice Gerard La Forest requested by Radwanski.

One key paragraph notes the Supreme Court could well disagree with him, La 
Forest admits.

"I take a great deal of note of his opinion, a man of his stature," said 
Harrison.

"We are not here to jeopardize anyone's constitutional rights. We're not 
above the law. In fact, there are very few times when someone is actually 
watching the camera monitor, but it's the perception. The bad guys think 
there is someone monitoring it, just like Neighbourhood Watch."

RCMP have used information from the camera for drug busts and drug stings, 
he said, but it's just one of many police tools.

"Certainly, it's not the highest priority and I'm not hanging my hat on it."

Kelowna Mayor Walter Gray wonders why Radwanski doesn't consider public 
acceptance of the camera.

"I've only had four letters or e-mails, plus three maybe four phone calls 
objecting to it in three years, but I've had dozens and dozens and dozens 
of letters, phone calls, people on the street, at meetings, expressing 
support."

Radwanski won't accept a Sudbury, Ont., study showing a decrease in crime 
due to a camera, but he points to a British city with 117 cameras where the 
crime rate rose by 40 per cent, noted the mayor.

"It's getting a little tiresome that we have to keep defending our 
position," Gray said.
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