Nearly 80 percent of 601 British Columbian respondents to a poll conducted by Strategic Communications are in favor of installing video surveillance cameras in public areas, according to 24 hours, a newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Survey results also show that 47 percent “strongly support” installing CCTV. The poll results have a margin of error of four percent.
Richard Rosenberg, president of the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, says there has not been enough serious public discussion about CCTV to warrant taking the survey responses as well-informed, 24 hours reports. The public, he says, assumes that video surveillance of public areas will help guarantee its safety, even though there is no empirical evidence supporting such a belief.
The Vancouver Police Department could begin implementation of video surveillance, if approved, as early as 2008, the newspaper reported.
