Montreal police to double public cameras, blindsiding local community groups

Montreal police will be adding nine more cameras in public spaces, nearly double the amount currently in its network.

A total of 42 cameras will be set up in Montreal by the end of the year.

The Montreal police service (SPVM) already installed nine cameras last fall across Montréal-Nord, Rivière-des-Prairies, Saint-Michel and in the Sud-Ouest borough.

To combat gun violence, four of the nine new cameras will be placed in children's parks, Parc Nelson-Mandela in Côte-des-Neiges, Parc Ferland in Saint-Léonard and Parc des Roseraies in Anjou.

Ousseynou Ndiaye was shocked to learn one of the cameras would be installed at Parc Henri-Bourassa, down the street from his organization.

The executive director of Un itinéraire pour tous, a Montréal-Nord community group that provides social services to residents, participated in Montreal's inaugural forum on armed violence, but was unaware of the move.

"I don't feel comfortable with them going ahead with it, without holding a consultation," he said. "The decision needs to be justified."

The SPVM told CBC News in a statement that locations receiving cameras are prioritized based on "an increase in violent crime, including gun violence" and result from a consultation between neighborhood stations and the SPVM's criminal investigation units.

"The role of the urban security camera is to have a beneficial effect on the sense of security for all people who live, pass through or frequent the area, including the most vulnerable clientele," they said. "It is also a tool to help fight crime."

Police say a new camera will be placed at the intersection of Lambert-Closse and Saint-Catherine Streets, on the periphery of Cabot Square, after the area saw an increase in violent crimes, including a murder last October.

Nakuset, executive director of Resilience Montreal, which is located across the square, says her group wasn't consulted before police announced the news.

She says she asked for cameras to be set up in the square years ago when she started the Cabot Square Project, but her requests were ignored.

Since the Raphaël André Memorial Tent has been operating in the square for more than a year, she says staff alert the police whenever there's a security issue. The tent supports hundreds of vulnerable people per day.

"We don't find that [shootings] happen very often," she said. "There are other places in Montreal where there are shootings. This is not happening around Cabot Square."