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(JOHN MCDONALD / iNFOnews.ca)

VERNON - The City of Vernon is pushing ahead with plans to install video surveillance cameras in a local park, despite questions raised by B.C.’s privacy commissioner earlier this week.

“It’s about the safety and security of the public,” Vernon Mayor Akbal Mund says.

Funding for 11 cameras in Polson Park was approved earlier this week, and the city is aiming to have them installed in the next two months. Polson Park has been the site of several violent incidents in recent years, including a stabbing and a shooting last year.

Mund believes having video surveillance in the park will help, but acting B.C.’s Acting Information and Privacy Commissioner Drew McArthur disagrees. He says video surveillance is not actually proven to deter crime, and worries that monitoring devices will erode the public’s right to privacy.

McArthur was surprised to learn of Vernon’s plans to install monitoring equipment, and says they should be sending a privacy impact assessment to his office for review well before the cameras are installed.

The City of Vernon takes a different view. Deputy corporate officer Susan Blakely says they have a draft privacy impact assessment, but are not of the opinion that it has to be sent to the privacy commissioner for pre-approval.

“It’s a suggested method, but it’s not a must,” Blakely says.

If an issue arose and the commissioner requested the assessment, she says the city would provide it. The assessment is expected to be finalized soon, pending the completion of a new city policy dictating the usage of video cameras, Blakely says. She adds the cameras are not expected to be monitored 24/7, but would provide a visual record in the event of a crime. 

The Mayor says they intend to keep on track with installation before summer.

“Until there is some clear direction from the privacy commissioner — which there isn’t — do we have concerns? No,” Mund says. “It’s no different from a business having a camera. They’re set up for the safety and security not only of the people that work there, but of the people who are consumers.”

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