The Associated Press
Quebec, Canada (CP) -- Quebec’s privacy watchdog issued public surveillance guidelines Wednesday after video cameras were installed on a drug-ridden street in Montreal.
The provincial access to information commission said public cameras should only be used as a last resort to prevent serious crime problems or for the protection of property.
Commission president Diane Boissinot said the cameras should only be used only at specific times for a specific period.
“The feeling I have is that public bodies do not reflect enough or think about it seriously,” said Boissinot, whose agency is studying the Montreal camera program.
Montreal police have set up the cameras along busy St-Denis Street from May 1 to Aug. 30 -- high season for drug transactions.
The area is known as a place to buy marijuana at all hours near a subway station.
Police have said they would not monitor the cameras while they were rolling and would use the footage only if someone filed a criminal complaint.
The footage would be erased after seven days, police add.
Boissinot said her agency has the power to check surveillance proposals to see if they meet its rules. The commission also has the power to issue rulings that could result in the cameras being removed.
In 2002, the commission ordered the northeastern Quebec town of Baie-Comeau to remove cameras that had been set up in a section of the community.
A Montreal police spokeswoman said Wednesday that no such ruling has yet been issued against the city, adding the cameras would continue to monitor St-Denis Street through the summer.