Civil Liberties Association warns B.C. city against surveillance cameras in public park

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association is warning against the use of surveillance cameras in public spaces as the City of Terrace considers video monitoring of two popular outdoor gathering places.

The idea of installing the cameras was put forward by Coun. Sean Bujtas as a way of addressing concerns over vandalism and mischief in George Little Park and Brolly Square, both in downtown Terrace in northwest B.C.

"I think it's a reasonable idea," he said. "I think some people don't feel as safe as they would like to feel in those locations."

George Little is the city's main outdoor gathering space and includes a small stage, gardens and a playground.

Brolly Square is the site of a former gas station that has been remediated and is leased to the volunteer Greater Terrace Beautification Society.

Both sites have been hotspots for police, with RCMP responding to over 200 calls to the parks in 2017. The city typically budgets $10,000 annually for repairs to George Little Park for vandalism and damage.

People [don't] look at the camera, make a logical decision, and go, well, I guess I won't have a bar fight here- Micheal Vonn

However, B.C. Civil Liberties Association director Micheal Vonn warned the costs of the cameras could be even higher — and may not be effective in deterring crime.

"If your problem is street-brawling, drunkenness, graffiti, those are not the kind of things we've seen cameras have [an] effect," she said.

"People [don't] look at the camera, make a logical decision, and go, well, I guess I won't have a bar fight here."

She also said such systems go against people's expectations of being allowed to gather in public spaces without being recorded.

​"People in a free and democratic society have the right to a sense of being free to do without that monitoring," she said.

Listen to a full interview with Vonn

Terrace RCMP Insp. Sydney Leck said police "would support council with any initiative that could help provide comfort and security," and that cameras could assist policing efforts as "surveillance can tell the story no on else is willing or able to."

However, RCMP also told city staff they would not want to be responsible for the ongoing storage and monitoring of such a surveillance system.

That means the city would have to look after securing the video footage and dealing with privacy rights, Vonn said.

"You are now governed by law for the privacy of everyone walking by," she said. "The cost of that, the data storage, the data management — it turns out quite often to be much more difficult than anyone anticipated."

Final decision not made

City staff estimates setting up the system would cost roughly $10,000 per camera, and that lighting upgrades would be needed in order for the cameras to be effective at night. They also said multiple cameras would be needed in George Little Park.

The city also needs permission from the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia, which oversees privacy concerns in the province. According to guidelines published on the commisoner's website, the city will have to demonstrate there is a clear need for video surveillance.

"Public bodies must not take steps to erode the right to privacy merely because they believe there is nothing to fear if an individual has nothing to hide," the guidelines read. 

"The loss of the ability to control the use of one's own personal information is harmful in itself."

Bujtas said although the city is asking for permission, council has not yet voted on whether it will pursue the plan. Instead, it is waiting until it receives a more detailed budget on the cost  of a surveillance system.

"I want to see facts and numbers and make an informed decision," he said.

With files from George Baker