Richmond News
The City of Richmond could possibly go to court to see if they can over-rule the privacy commissioner and install high-resolution intersection cameras to help solve crimes.
The city already has cameras installed at 110 intersections to monitor traffic.
When city council originally installed these cameras about three years ago, the privacy commissioner said they needed to be set at low-resolution for privacy reasons.
This means the cameras can’t capture faces or licence plates.
City council is now asking for a feasibility study on high-definition intersection cameras as well as getting a pre-emptive court order to support them, given the privacy commissioner’s ruling. …
Mayor Malcolm Brodie said he’s spoken with the Solicitor-General Mike Farnworth “who I believe is fully in favour with the approach we want to take.”
The privacy commissioner, however, with whom Brodie has also spoken on the issue, seems to be “intractable” in his position.
Brodie said he doesn’t understand why private cellphone footage, or footage from dash-cams and private businesses are usable in court, but there’s a pushback on the city capturing video.
“Why all of a sudden because it’s local government that has a program, now we don’t trust it,” he said. “’It’s an incursion into our civil rights’ – I just don’t see it that way, not when you talk about the need to preserve public safety.”
In the end, city council voted to move forward with exploring the possibility of having these high-definition cameras. Wolfe and Gillanders voted against the motion. …