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May 10, 2018 - 5:00 PM
KELOWNA - Live monitoring of CCTV surveillance cameras in parts of downtown Kelowna begins next week, despite expressed concerns from the provincial privacy commissioner.
“We’re going some testing right now, getting the room all set up and we plan to go live next week,” City of Kelowna risk assessment manager Lance Kayfish said. “We believe we’ve done everything in compliance."
A submission to the B.C. Office of the Information and Privacy commissioner justifying the enhanced use of the surveillance cameras is being sent out by Friday, he added.
There are 368 surveillance cameras throughout the city, with the majority of them located in the three public parkades in downtown Kelowna.
Kayfish said the parkades continue to be the source of frequent complaints of illicit drug use including drug overdoses, although he couldn't give an exact number.
“It happens regularly. This gives us a better capacity to respond to things and stop them before they start,” he said.
In addition to the parkade cameras, Kayfish said contract security guards provided by Palladin Security will live monitor surveillance cameras at the Queensway transit exchange and outside public washrooms in City Park, Ben Lee Park and Stewart Park.
Other public cameras such as those on Leon and Lawrence Avenues downtown are not continuously monitored, Kayfish said, although bylaw officers will monitor them episodically.
Kayfish said the monitoring program has been designed using the privacy commission's own guidelines and he’s confident it will stand up to scrutiny.
“We think we are doing a better job with this program than we did before,” Kayfish said.
In February, Privacy Commissioner Drew MacArthur released a brief that singled out Kelowna, Richmond and Terrace, B.C. for criticism of their expanded use of surveillance cameras.
More recently, the commission has also raised concerns about the use of survaillance cameras in Vernon.
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News from © iNFOnews, 2018