Some N.S. university towns eyeing cameras to deter student mischief

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HALIFAX — The mayor of Wolfville, N.S., says her city is taking a look at including surveillance cameras in a residential space close to Acadia College in response to “persevering with and escalating” property injury in the neighborhood.

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The undertaking has raised issues amongst pupil leaders, however one other college city within the province might be watching the undertaking to see if it’s efficient.

Mayor Wendy Donovan says occasional vandalism and mischief by the hands of partying Acadia College college students will not be new, however currently it’s been inflicting security issues in a neighbourhood subsequent to campus.

“Virtually any weekend, avenue indicators are stolen,” Donovan stated in an interview Friday. Wolfville has spent about $12,000 changing broken or lacking avenue indicators on this neighbourhood, she stated.

“Not solely is {that a} price, it’s additionally harmful,” she stated. Residents have been significantly involved about lacking cease indicators and the potential for accidents, Donovan added. That is on high of experiences of automotive windshields being keyed, facet mirrors being torn off and college students urinating in residential yards.

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The city has proposed including 11 cameras to 9 mild poles alongside residential streets beside Acadia throughout a two-year trial interval. The cameras wouldn’t be actively monitored however could possibly be reviewed if an incident happens.

Donovan stated the Acadia Pupil Union has raised privateness issues in regards to the plan. Union representatives didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.

If the pilot digicam program is authorised by Wolfville council subsequent month and produces outcomes, the mayor of Antigonish, N.S., which is residence to St. Francis Xavier College, says her city would think about following go well with.

“If the Wolfville undertaking is successful, we would definitely have a look at it,” Laurie Boucher stated in an e-mail. “We share the identical points, as a result of we’re each small college cities.” She added that there are already cameras round Foremost Road in Antigonish’s downtown.

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In Kingston, Ont., residence to Queen’s College and generally known as a web site of rowdy pupil events, Mayor Bryan Patterson stated there are not any plans to put in cameras close to campus. Patterson stated that’s as a result of in Kingston, pupil injury is essentially restricted to a handful of particular occasions.

“For us, the main target has not been on vandalism or injury to property. It’s been extra massive, out-of-control home events and unsanctioned avenue events,” Patterson stated in an interview Friday.

“In occasions like that, police have used quite a lot of totally different instruments to have eyes on the bottom, however these are simply non permanent measures,” he stated.

Wolfville’s extra everlasting surveillance measure might be mentioned at this Tuesday’s council assembly, the place councillors will overview a employees report launched Friday on the pilot undertaking. A vote on the proposal is scheduled for Could 17.

Donovan stated she was shocked by the scholar union’s issues over the cameras as a result of Acadia already has cameras overlaying a lot of its campus. She famous that in 2019, when a defibrillator was stolen from an Acadia constructing, digicam footage was used to determine the perpetrators and retrieve the medical system.

Along with the campus, “fairly plenty of our companies even have cameras downtown, so the one change actually is that these are in a pilot undertaking,” she stated.

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This story was produced with the monetary help of the Meta and Canadian Press Information Fellowship.