POLICE PLAN TO DOCUMENT SPY CAMERA'S USEFULNESS

The number of hypodermic needles and frequency of open sex, urinating and
vandalism is down in Kasugai Gardens, but that apparently isn't enough for
the national privacy commissioner.

So Kelowna RCMP will try to document the impact of a surveillance camera in
another public area downtown.

"I think (those figures) are a fair indication that we're on the right
track with our safety camera," said Supt. Don Harrison.

"However, our problem is a very small field of view, so we can't get a
definitive answer whether it's effective or not."

Harrison plans to move the surveillance camera from Queensway to one of
eight other potential locations downtown by next summer.

He wants to compare crime stats before and after the camera installation
and also examine stats from adjacent zones downtown to see if the camera
presence simply shifts a crime problem to another area.

"He's 100 per cent correct; we don't have any crime statistics," admitted
Harrison.

Canadian privacy commissioner George Radwanski had a "no comment" from his
Ottawa office.

Staff had not received any information about the RCMP's plans and "would
have to make inquiries and analyse this before comment," said staff.

You don't have to sell Joe Creron on the effectiveness of the camera
mounted on a pole beside Kasugai Gardens.

"Without a doubt, it's working," the parks manager said Monday.

"You don't get the riffraff in there anymore. Before the camera, I've seen
people urinating, drinking in there. We found tons of needles, there was
lots of sex (with prostitutes), lots of partying. I found one guy
defecating in there; they had toilet paper rigged up to a tree. You don't
get that anymore."

Creron admits Radwanski may be right in saying the camera simply moves the
problem to another area of the downtown.

"If they're going into areas not frequented by the general public, then
it's safer for the public. I don't have kids running around back alleys but
they are running around Kasugai Gardens, rolling on the grass, hiding in
the bushes around City Hall."

Five years ago, a city employee was pricked by a hypodermic needle as he
emptied a garbage bin in another park.

"There's been five years of testing to see if he has AIDS. The stress on
the family was huge. It's a sorry state of affairs when you have to worry
about needles in a public park."

Perhaps Radwanski should spend the summer in Kasugai Gardens by himself and
without a surveillance camera to see what really goes on, suggests Creron.
"It's frightening."

Kelowna's top cop has studied a legal opinion by former Supreme Court of
Canada justice Gerard La Forest requested by Radwanski.

One key paragraph notes the Supreme Court could well disagree with him, La
Forest admits.

"I take a great deal of note of his opinion, a man of his stature," said
Harrison.

"We are not here to jeopardize anyone's constitutional rights. We're not
above the law. In fact, there are very few times when someone is actually
watching the camera monitor, but it's the perception. The bad guys think
there is someone monitoring it, just like Neighbourhood Watch."

RCMP have used information from the camera for drug busts and drug stings,
he said, but it's just one of many police tools.

"Certainly, it's not the highest priority and I'm not hanging my hat on it."

Kelowna Mayor Walter Gray wonders why Radwanski doesn't consider public
acceptance of the camera.

"I've only had four letters or e-mails, plus three maybe four phone calls
objecting to it in three years, but I've had dozens and dozens and dozens
of letters, phone calls, people on the street, at meetings, expressing
support."

Radwanski won't accept a Sudbury, Ont., study showing a decrease in crime
due to a camera, but he points to a British city with 117 cameras where the
crime rate rose by 40 per cent, noted the mayor.

"It's getting a little tiresome that we have to keep defending our
position," Gray said.