Cameras coming to Sault Ste. Marie to help solve crimes, find missing persons
Surveillance cameras that are used to both deter crimes and help investigations will soon be installed throughout Sault Ste. Marie.
The police service has chosen areas such as high-traffic intersections and areas where they most frequently receive calls for service.
Surveillance cameras that are used to both deter crimes and help investigations will soon be installed throughout Sault Ste. Marie. (Photo from video)
For the last 18 months, the Sault Police Service has been working on bringing CCTV cameras to the city and Prince Township.
It’s a tool that has become common in many communities across the world, including here in the north. In the Sault., police have chosen 30 areas for the surveillance cameras.
"We've placed our cameras around the city based on, basically data," said police Chief Hugh Stevenson.
"Where we know that there's a high probability of missing persons, whether it's around an old age home or different, locations in the downtown core."
Police said the cameras will help with a range of investigations, whether its break-ins, hit-and-runs, abductions or missing persons.
"From dealing with the victims of a lost a loved one, when they know that you have the capability to have eyes and ears across the city that are likely to be frequented by missing persons, that grabs a whole pile of confidence and a little assertion that this is going to work out well in the end," Stevenson said.
Signs will be posted to let the public know the area is under video surveillance. The project costs $300,000, split equally between the police service and the province.
Stevenson wants to make clear the cameras will only be used in times that they could help an active investigation.
"When an incident becomes known to us that we require that level surveillance, that's when they'll be" used, he said.
"And again, we've done it within the Privacy Commission envelope in terms of who has access to the information."
- Download the CTV News app now
- Get local breaking news alerts
- Daily newsletter with the top local stories emailed to your inbox
Installation of the new CCTV cameras will occur in the next two or three weeks. Stevenson said the few staff able to access the data are nearly all trained and will be ready before the cameras come online.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cuba's power grid fails, plunging country into darkness
Cuba's national electrical grid shut down on Friday after one of the island's major power plants failed, Cuba's energy ministry said, plunging the entire country into a blackout.
Arrests made after gunshots fired at Toronto Jewish girls' school
A 20-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy are facing multiple charges after allegedly firing gunshots at a Jewish girls' school last weekend.
SaskPower receives largest workplace fine in province's history for 2020 deaths of employees in Weyburn
SaskPower was sentenced Friday morning in a Weyburn courtroom, receiving a record fine, after being found guilty of three workplace-safety related violations when two experienced employees were killed on the job in 2020.
Suspect charged in hand-scooping incident at B.C. frozen yogurt shop
Days after a man was recorded walking behind the counter at a frozen yogurt shop in Richmond, B.C., and scooping product with his hand, a suspect has been criminally charged.
Thousands of hybrid vehicles recalled in Canada over risk of fire
An increased risk of fire has prompted the recall of thousands of Honda hybrid vehicles in Canada.
Cabinet minister who is quitting voices confidence in Trudeau
One of four Canadian cabinet members who are stepping down said on Friday that he has confidence in Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and he played down polls predicting the Liberals will badly lose in the next election.
Dog spotted hanging out on top of ancient pyramid in Egypt
While flying over Egypt’s famous Great Pyramids at sunrise earlier this week, US paraglider Marshall Mosher and fellow paragliders spotted the unexpected sight of a stray hound also taking in views around the summit of one of the ancient wonders.
Trump compares jailed U.S. Capitol rioters to Japanese internment during Second World War
Former U.S. president Donald Trump on Friday compared the people jailed on charges that they stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to the more than 120,000 people of Japanese origin incarcerated on U.S. soil during World War II.
Woman arrested after allegedly throwing a cup of bodily fluids at Saskatoon bus passengers, breaking window
A 29-year-old Saskatoon woman faces assault and mischief charges after allegedly throwing a cup of bodily fluids on two bus passengers and breaking a window on Thursday.