Pubdate: Fri, 10 Nov 2006
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 The Vancouver Sun
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Chad Skelton

SECURITY CAMERAS ON CITY STREETS DETER CRIMINALS NOT DRUNKS, U.K. EXPERT SAYS

VANCOUVER - Closed-circuit security cameras don't do much to deter 
drunks from rowdy behaviour, according to a British expert on the 
systems visiting Vancouver this week.

On Tuesday, the Vancouver police department said it wants to install 
high-tech security cameras on the Granville Mall to discourage 
drunken fights in the city's "entertainment district."

But Supt. Rick Naylor, president of the Police Superintendents' 
Association of England and Wales, said Britain's CCTV cameras have 
done little to deter that nation's drunken louts.

Naylor said Britain's roughly 200,000 public CCTV cameras are 
effective in deterring certain types of crime -- such as 
sophisticated theft rings.

"They deter professional criminals who are very surveillance 
conscious," he said.

"It doesn't stop rowdy behaviour," he said. "You probably won't ever 
dissuade people from that kind of behaviour if they've been drinking 
heavily all night."

Naylor said the cameras also do little to deter another type of 
criminal common to Vancouver: desperate drug addicts.

"You will never stop the chaotic drug user who needs to steal 
something to get his next fix," he said.

What the cameras are useful for, said Naylor, is helping police 
respond quickly to crimes as they occur -- and to help track down 
offenders after the fact.

"It's a superb investigative tool," he said. "The pictures are great 
in court and it's led to a lot more guilty pleas because defence 
attorneys do not want those pictures shown in court -- because if 
they are, the sentence is increased."

People in Canada are used to seeing grainy images from 
convenience-store security cameras.

But Naylor said public cameras, like those in use in Britain, are of 
very high quality -- allowing police to zoom in on suspects' faces 
and get an image good enough to identify them.

In Britain, the cameras are operated by local governments, who notify 
the police if they see a crime in progress.

On Thursday, B.C. Solicitor-General John Les announced the expansion 
of a program that uses a new police car-mounted device that 
automatically scans licence plates.

The devices are already widely used in Britain. "We've had some 
really notable successes," said Naylor.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman