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Cops' Candid Cameras
The Toronto Police are at it again: spending money lavishly to justify their biggest slice of Toronto's budget. It would be laughable if it weren't so sad. Granted there are some really stupid criminals, however, only a complete fool would commit a crime in front of an obvious police camera. The logo gives it away. In a PR campaign worthy of Tourism Toronto, (Toronto's Worst PR team), the Toronto police provided a FAQs How do you ensure crime isn’t displaced from areas where the cameras are located? Part of the considerable work required of Divisions requesting CCTV cameras is a detailed strategy to prevent that very thing happening. The Toronto Police neglected to mention their strategy to keep criminals from moving. Perhaps they plan to build an Israeli-style wall or maybe they'll entertain the criminals doing a naked happy dance to keep crime from being displaced. We wouldn't want a criminal to move his activities from Dundas and Sherbourne to say Rosedale now would we?
Heroux went on to say, "when we are told these cameras will somehow keep us safe. We don't have enough money to feed our people here. We don't have enough shelters, people are turned away every night. The city has just closed 312 beds in the downtown core. We don't have the housing. We're told somehow that these cameras will keep us safe. There can be no safety without having food, and these cameras will not feed us, they will not keep us warm and they will not give us housing. It's disturbing when these cameras come up." The Street Health Report
Street Health recently spent 3 months interviewing homeless people in Toronto. Speaking about the ensuing report of their findings, Zoe Dodd said, "Our report makes a series of recommendations consisting of solutions to improve the lives of homeless people and ultimately end homeless. Cameras and police surveillance is not one of them." $2 Million Dollar Cameras
The 51 Division Police cameras costs $2 million with a yearly projected maintenance budget of $4.7 million. The cameras were installed prior to the November 7th news conference. On Friday November 9th The Toronto Tribune observed maintenance being performed on the cop camera at Queen and Sherbourne.
Ultimately the people responsible for the instrustive instruments focusing on harassing the poor are the members of the Toronto Police Services Board: Chair Alok Mukherjee, Vice Chair Pam McConnell, Hugh Locke, Judi Cohen, Mayor David Miller, Hamlin Grange, and Frank Di Giorgio.
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