Cornwall ON – The City of Cornwall just received grants totaling $100,597 to install close circuit cameras around town.
The idea of course is to promote safety and assist law enforcement and ultimately to save the city some money, but now we all have to remember we’re being watched locally. Close circuit technology is a mainstay of most metropolitan centers across the world and is a valuable tool for watching what goes on.
The funds come via the Civil Remedies Act of Ontario. IE Funds taken from the proceeds of crime so I guess Cornwall had its share coming from all those seizures.
What do you think about CC cameras about town? Do you feel safer or do you feel invaded? You can post your comments below.
Lordy, Lordy, CCTV comes to Cornwall. I could give them a few ideas for camera placement.
The Final Touches on this police state
It’s a great idea!! and long over do. I can’t wait til then put them back on the highways for bad drivers as well.
Oh as for the Orwell fears, they are not in your bedroom but in the public streets watching for acts of violence lawlessness.
On the other hand, I was in TO again this week and while walking about I spoke with police walking a beat. For a city like Cornwall that would be something our local boys could do. It would help justify the cost of what ever they are really doing
I guess if you have something to hide you may have a problem with cameras.
I think a few cameras are a long way from final touches on a police state.
Used a bank or store today? How about a gas station? You were probably on video. Before 9-11 I was in California, Police could see (wireless transmission) images from inside City Hall, while parked out front.
But –
Who is going to monitor? 24 hours a day? How much storage is needed in the computer room?
These are costs much higher than just buying and installing the equipment.
why does society look at crime and try to solve it by bandaide solutions? A society that has to continually increase it’s police force should trigger the thought that maybe just maybe that crime is nothing more than a symptom of a larger root cause.
Eric
If done properly it would only be a part time job for a few people.
Rent-a-cops would suffice. It should have no bearing on our local unonized city workers
Here’s a link to a story about London’s cctv system, and how useful it is…..http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1208700/CCTV-helps-solve-just-ONE-crime-1-000-officers-fail-use-film-evidence.html….basically, it states that cctv solves one crime per 1,000 cameras on a yearly basis…how many cameras are we getting?
Amen Jason H. It’s the same with a lot of people and business. Sometimes you have to sit back if you don’t like the way you’re being responded to and instead of lashing out consider why someone is treating you that way.
Then smack em 😉
Rodney, how can you compare a city like London to Cornwall?? Try the Kenora stats and see how that works out
I posted this on a ‘different site’ but I think it’s relevant here;
Did you know that 99% of all crimes against children happen in the family home? I think we should put cameras in your livingroom, as a deterrent. If you have nothing to hide, and are good to your children, then you have nothing to worry about, do you?
It’s a simple fact that in the history of CCTV that NO CRIME HAS EVER BEEN STOPPED, by a corner camera.. Their only use it to keep tabs on innocent people who have ‘not committed a crime yet, but who are suspected of possibly committing one in the future’.
Smee: I tried, but all I could find was a report about them cutting CCTV due to the cost. Hmmmmm.
So I thought maybe you meant Kelowna, they do have a camera set up as a pilot project. But oddly enough, no statitstics were made available. Somewhat odd for a pilot project, no?
Just curious…where do you hope they set up the cameras, and what crimes do you think they will stop? Please, I don’t want your silly arguments, I’m just asking a question.
CRIME in on the DECREASE…
I would love for the cameras to catch the losers that broke into my business’s building a few weeks back and also to identify the idiots that keep pulling the flowers out of the planters along Pitt St in the downtown.
People work hard to have nice things and to make a living , if the cameras can help deter or catch these fools that have nothing better to do than vandalize or break into people’s property then I am all for it.
Having said that I would much prefer to see police officers walking the beat.
That would be a real tangible deterrent.
Not only is a police officer’s presence a deterrent to potential crime, but it’s a great opportunity for the community’s police force to put a personality on the streets, talking and walking amongst it’s citizens.
If our young actually see and speak to our officers on the street it could reinforce morals and put a positive spin on law enforcement.
Some ridiculously uninformed people actually think Police officers are there just to give you a ticket or haul people off in handcuffs, well guess what? They are there to help those in need and they can be real life role models for our youth.
I say put them on the street for some realtime interaction…it could make a huge difference.
Antagonizer
Did anyone say the cameras would stop crime or work as a deterrent knowing that it is easier to be caught? They would also, hopefully, be used in convicting criminals after the fact and reduce the need for such a waste of money and time on the judicial system.
I wonder how you arrived at your observation that cameras have not stopped a crime. Did they actually ask people “hey were you going to rob this place and because there was a camera you decided not to?”
Rodney
They still exist in Kenora and crime is down as well. Kenora is in Ontario incase you were unsure. I have been through Kenora a few times a nice place by day and quiet by night. However the lodging in the area at one time would send you back to your car and ask you to remove all your possessions stating it could be broken into. That is not the case anymore
If they can walk a beat in Toronto they can walk a beat in Cornwall. Whitewater as well has police on foot patrol. The town loves it and the people have more respect for the officers.
It boils down to personal interaction. Right now they portray themselves as a bunch of arrogant bums.
It is a two fold problem. Currently police are only called out for problems and do not have the opportunity to interact with the people of the town. That in itself creates a mental block making them seem arrogant. .A dispassionate attitude is portrayed causing mistrust and insecurity as a result
Come on guys why can’t you do it in Cornwall
While we’re submitting to surveillance… I’d like to have the Chief of Police submit to — lights, camera, action — a colonoscopy (along with our they mayor). I’d like to see exactly what it is that’s behind these two a-holes and their plan to monitor the community theyve been milking.
I mean, when I caught “wind” of this plan, It seemed like these two Glen Walter residents viewed the people of Cornwall as “Morlocks” from H. G. Wells’ Time Machine, or “reeks and recs” from Vonnegut’s Player Piano.