By Graeme MacKay – Monday, February 17, 2014
(Coloured version of cartoon that ran in the Hamilton Spectator, Thursday, January 10, 2002)
Hamilton Begins Camera Surveillance
Hamilton police are putting controversial video surveillance cameras into public areas of the downtown in a move they say will help prevent crime. Six closed-circuit television cameras are expected to be in operation by the end of March, initially covering public areas from James to Walnut streets.
The cameras will be controlled and monitored live from the central police station. They will also record all street activity on digital tape, 24 hours a day. Tapes will be kept, likely for 60 days, for possible use in following up a crime.
The pilot project will see Hamilton join a growing list of cities using surveillance cams against street crime.
No biometrics — such as face scans or other new technologies — will be used.
And police say the cameras will not breach privacy rights, despite a ruling in October by Canada’s privacy commissioner over public cameras used by the RCMP in Kelowna, B.C.
The 24-hour videotaping of Kelowna’s high-crime district stopped after privacy Commissioner George Radwanski ruled police have no right to do random round-the-clock surveillance of law-abiding citizens in public. (Original Source)