Negotiations to install surveillance cameras under the Queensway on Preston Street to deter vandalism are raising questions about who should be responsible for monitoring public spaces.
The city has given the Preston Street BIA the go-ahead to mount the cameras to protect the Little Italy mural and bollards, or short posts, from vandalism.
But executive director Lori Mellor says her organization doesn’t feel it should take on the full responsibility and cost.
“We do not think it should be at our expense since it really is the result of a failure of the police to respond,” she says.
She says that Little Italy’s business improvement area does not have the interest or manpower to monitor the tapes.
That should be the responsibility of the city, provincial Ministry of Transportation, or police, she says.
The proposed surveillance camera would not be the first in Ottawa. There are already cameras managed by the city in public parks, swimming pools, community centres and heritage sites.
Josh Greenberg, a Carleton University communications professor who has studied the issues surrounding surveillance cameras in public spaces, says that if cameras are installed in the area in question, it would be better for the city to monitor the video.
“It should be of concern to anyone in Ottawa that a BIA could mount a camera in public spaces,” he says.
He suggests that to save money and deter vandalism it would be better for the BIA to use smart environmental design such as increased lighting and should only use cameras when they are an absolute necessity.
Mellor says that there is already stronger lighting under the Queensway than the Ministry of Transportation uses, including decorative lights which are themselves sometimes targets of vandalism.
Michelle Chibba, director of policy and special projects for the privacy commission of Ontario, also encourages the BIA to partner with an institution such as the police or city to ensure responsible usage.
The proposed cameras would be marked with signage that would let people know they are being watched, says Mellor.
Since people commit most of the vandalism on weekend nights, Mellor says she hopes the signs would deter vandals to destroy or deface the murals or the bollards.
“These are crimes of opportunity, the vandals see the mural and it is like Mount Everest for them. A lot of the vandals are drunken university students, the crimes aren’t premeditated and we aren’t looking to send them to jail. Hopefully, if they saw the camera they would think twice before doing anything,” Mellor says.
A review of CCTV cameras in Toronto indicates that crime was reduced in three out of five of the districts that had cameras.
“Our belief is that privacy should not get in the way of deterring crime or catching criminals because public safety is important,” Chibba says. “But if you are going to install any technology that could impact privacy you must do so in a responsible way.”
Mellor says the cameras would only be reviewed after a crime was committed and the data would be erased on Tuesdays because most crime happens over the weekend.
The Ontario Privacy Commission has guidelines that will help ensure the information is secure and being used properly, that videos are being monitored for the proposed purposes and that the collection of data is minimal.
“We don’t want to be big brother,” Mellor says. “Vandalism is costing us a fortune and we care about the neighbourhood. If you take pride in your neighbourhood and keep it clean it is less likely that vandalism will occur.”