Pubdate: Wed, 07 Apr 2004 Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU) C4-B3B2-3BFDB32326E8 Copyright: 2004 The Gazette, a division of Southam Inc. Contact: http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274 Author: Sidartha Banerjee SNIFF, YOU'RE ON CANDID CAMERA Surveillance plan for Latin Quarter. Police will keep eye on area in four-month pilot project To try to curb drug trafficking around Berri Square and the Latin Quarter, Ville Marie borough council last night voted to have police-monitored surveillance cameras scattered over the neighbourhood. Cameras are to be set up in the area bordered by Sherbrooke St. to the north, Rene-Levesque Blvd. to the south, Berri St. to the east and Sanguinet St. The pilot project, dubbed Projet Robo-Cam, is to start on on May 1 and will last about four months, after which the borough will evaluate the cameras' worth. Ville Marie city councillor Robert Laramee said preliminary discussions about the project began in December 2002 and the pilot project will cost less than $20,000. Laramee wouldn't say how many cameras are being installed but said they are designed to monitor the streets and signs will be used to alert people they are being filmed. Only Montreal police officers will be able to view the camera images. Montreal police Commander Johanne Paquin, who heads Station 21 and the area that will be under surveillance, declined to comment yesterday but the police force is expected to discuss the project at a news conference today. Consultations were held last summer by Quebec's Access to Information Commission, Laramee said. Councillor Louise O'Sullivan said she hoped for positive results from project, but her concern was cameras would cause the drug problem to shift into neighbouring boroughs. "They are not going to stop selling drugs," she said. Civil rights lawyer Julius Grey said the cameras may not be a violation of anyone's privacy if there is good reason to put the cameras in a specific area and the fact they are there is announced beforehand and well publicized. "I'm generally wary and fairly negative about these things. I cannot say in every case that it would be illegal," Grey said, adding that he'd hope it wouldn't become a general policy. Ginette L'Heureux, a spokes-person for the Quebec Human Rights Commission, said that there have to be strict rules for cameras and there should be limited times when filming occurs. Similar cameras are in use in Kelowna, B.C. and in Baie Comeau. Sherbrooke is trying to bring back cameras to its downtown core this fall, but must convince the privacy commission of its benefits. In 1992, the privacy commission told Sherbrooke that it unnecessarily filmed citizens and contravened Quebec's privacy legislation. - --- MAP posted-by: Josh