Saturday, July 07, 2012

Stuart Park quietly getting spycams

Friday, 06 July 2012 02:00 J.P. SQUIRE Kelowna Daily Courier:
The secret is out: the city has installed three spycams in Stuart Park to upgrade security. A formal announcement is expected in about two weeks after the surveillance system is tested and warning signs installed. When Stuart Park was completed, RCMP and the city began receiving complaints about illegal drug use, prostitution, people sleeping overnight and in one case, an all-out party in its public washrooms. As a result, the city hired full-time commissionaires who patrol 6 a.m.-10 p.m. seven days a week at an annual cost of $100,000. With someone always nearby, misuse of the washrooms has dropped off but the cameras will enhance security even more, said Lance Kayfish, the city's risk manager, on Thursday. "This will give us another tool to help deal with misuse of the washrooms. It's a service that we're trying to provide to the public. That service is infringed on when people don't use them for what they were intended. "Particularly as the summer gets busier and we have tourists in town, we want to put the best foot forward." In 2010, the province provided $200,000 to the city (and grants to two other cities) to conduct a security audit to determine if surveillance cameras were an effective tool for local governments, and to purchase and install cameras after the audit was completed. The audit was completed and after researching options, the city bought three cameras that will wirelessly send encrypted video to computer servers. No one will be monitoring the video feed, but the recording will be available if there is an incident. Using specialized software, if someone stays in the washroom for more than 10 minutes, for example, a commissionaire may knock on the door to ensure the user is OK. Video cameras in public areas and buildings are nothing new. An RCMP surveillance camera overlooking Queensway bus loop was installed and used amid controversy in the 1990s. Since then, the city took over its operation, installed a new camera and it will be enhanced as part of the current work at Stuart Park. The city also has cameras at Parkinson Recreation Centre (for several years), at Memorial Arena (more than five years), at Chapman Parkade (more than five years) and at city water reservoirs. Under consideration is an Internet broadcast of a Stuart Park camera. "We have lots of requests from the public, particularly in the wintertime so they can monitor how busy the Stuart Park ice rink is," said Kayfish. "The plan is to dial down the quality so it's not about picking out faces in the crowd." The city is also considering adding commissionaires to City Park where new public washrooms are planned. A commissionaire currently patrols Kasugai Park behind City Hall at a annual cost of $50,000. "When you start counting up all the tax money that we're spending on trying to provide secure spaces, we're looking really hard to find innovative solutions, to try to improve security and public safety. That's the key," said Kayfish. The city has received complaints for decades about the lack of public washrooms downtown but their potential misuse was always a concern. Public meetings were held on a design for the proposed new washrooms in City Park. Security was one of the concerns highlighted.

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