Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas is rolling out what metropolis officers are calling a brand new enterprise CCTV registry, however the initiative seems to be a relaunch of a program that already existed.
The registry is being promoted as a part of a five-point plan introduced Tuesday to assist tackle crime within the metropolis.
“We’re launching the brand new enterprise CCTV registry to assist the RCMP establish close by cameras throughout investigations,” Dyas stated in the course of the announcement.
However a glance again suggests the thought isn’t new.
The same program was launched six years in the past below a earlier mayor and council. A pilot CCTV registry was launched in 2020 with the identical purpose, serving to police shortly find safety footage throughout investigations. In keeping with a report on the time, 51 cameras had been registered as a part of that pilot.
“It doesn’t take plenty of analysis to seek out out that nothing new is coming to the desk,” stated Todd Daniels, proprietor of Gallery Streetwear in downtown Kelowna.
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“It’s simply sort of recycling the identical rhetoric they’d earlier than,” he stated. “There was nothing new, and I believe lots of people on the (enterprise discussion board) knew that. We’re properly learn and studied.”
The Metropolis of Kelowna is asking the registry a brand new launch, however didn’t make anybody accessible to make clear the way it differs from the earlier applications.
Daniels additionally questioned why initiatives like this seem to fade away, solely to resurface later.
“It’s a bit bizarre, isn’t it?” he stated. “Issues get quiet, they go bye-bye. However as quickly as issues ramp up and folks begin saying one thing, they arrive again.”
Whereas the registry is designed to hurry up police investigations, some enterprise house owners query whether or not it can result in significant outcomes.
“We may give CCTV footage anytime when they need it,” stated Srikanth Velvella, proprietor of Twice the Cube Board Sport Café and Bar.
“However what’s going to occur? We have to see outcomes. And there’s no outcome. There isn’t a level in doing something, it’s losing our time.”
As town rolls out the registry, companies say actual change will rely upon motion past Metropolis Corridor, together with penalties that reach previous identification alone.
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