Will Surveillance Cameras Become an Olympic Legacy?

By Damian Inwood, Canwest News Service, The Province, July 2, 2009

Vancouver officials and police must come clean on whether security cameras for the 2010 Olympics will be permanent, says the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.

"Just about any time you go to an Olympic host city, surveillance equipment is the legacy," said BCCLA spokeswoman Micheal Vonn.
"We know at this point that at least some of the cameras are intended to stay and we want to know what the justification for that is."
Vonn's comments came after Vancouver emergency management director Kevin Wallinger said there could be 40 to 60 cameras in the city during the Games.
A control centre will be built to monitor the closed-circuit television cameras and the wiring is permanent.
Officials insist they will only be used during the Games but say the cameras could be redeployed as traffic cameras or used for special events.
Vonn said her organization will continue pressing for more information on the issue and wants to be involved in consultation.
"We're very concerned that the Olympics must not be leveraged into the militarizing of public space with massive public surveillance," she added.
She said Vancouver is on a "slippery path" and that police are "drawing the cloak of security issues" to limit information.
"We do know that there is a push to hang onto the cameras," she said. "There are all kinds of shell games going on because there are so many players involved — the RCMP, the city police, the city itself and now the province. There seems to be a concerted effort to keep this information out of the public domain."
She said that the argument that "security cameras are fine for people who have nothing to hide," should be "turned on its head."
"Surely it should be, 'If you're a law abiding citizen, what are the secret police doing monitoring you?'" she said.
She said in the United Kingdom, there is one security surveillance camera for every 14 people.
"And they're getting more for the [2012] Olympics as, horrifyingly, that's not considered enough," she added. "After the Athens games, their privacy commissioner or the equivalent ended up resigning in protest after political promises that the cameras would not become a permanent installation proved to be a big fat lie."
Chris Shaw of 2010Watch said surveillance cameras were kept running in Sydney after the 2000 Olympics.
"These things routinely become permanent," said Shaw. "Remember when Jacques Rogge was here and he was chortling about what a great security legacy he was going to leave us? I suspect he is right."
He said security cameras are a "toy" that police will be reluctant to give back.
"I think we should very much mind if Big Brother is looking at us all the time," he said "Whether you're scratching your head, picking your nose or scratching your butt, that's your business. Where does it end?"
Kathy Corrigan, NDP Olympic critic, said she's concerned that permanent wiring is being used.
"I'm concerned that, because the infrastructure is there and the cameras are available, there'd be a temptation to use them," said Corrigan. "I don't think we should be going down that road."