Winnipeg police launch new John-cam program
By MICHELLE MACAFEE
WINNIPEG (CP) - Winnipeg police have a new weapon in their fight against prostitution -a john-cam that captures video footage of hookers getting into cars that is later posted on a public website.
Faces and licence plates will be blurred and a disclaimer on the site states not everyone who appears is a sex-trade worker or customer. But police said Wednesday they're confident Operation Snapshot, a pilot project believed to be the first of its kind in Canada, will help discourage the kind of steady traffic that is frustrating residents and business operators in some west and north neighbourhoods.
"Our experience was that if the johns or people who fuel the sex trade realized they weren't anonymous, that people were watching what they were doing, that they didn't want that," said Patrol Sgt. Kelly Dennison of the morals unit.
"This is kind of a back-lane, behind somebody's house or fence kind of thing."
But the website immediately drew criticism from Manitoba's privacy commissioner.
Barry Tuckett questioned whether cameras are justifiable, reasonable and effective when measured against the intrustion of privacy.
"My concern would be they're not the panacea, they're not the answer to crime," said Tuckett.
"There are also some other values that have to be measured and that is the fundamental right people have to be left alone, to not have the state intruding into their lawful activities on the street."
Even if people have nothing to hide but are captured on tape simply driving down the street, they may feel uncomfortable and become distrusting knowing they have been monitored.
Dennison said police will do all taping in person, in full view of the public, and will not use fixed cameras.
The website will only feature scenes police are confident depict transactions between hookers and Johns, not people stopping for directions or other apparent innocent activity.
"We're not putting clips on there that aren't realistic," said Dennison. "We're not in the business of wrecking families, these johns can do that themselves."
A community group representing 1,100 businesses in one high-traffic prostitution neighbourhood welcomed the project as another step in an ongoing battle to keep their streets free of hookers and johns.
"If you don't have a guilty conscience, what do you care if somebody asks you what you were doing on Ellice Avenue," said Trudy Turner, executive director of West End BIZ.
"It's pretty easy to explain. I can't see it being a big problem."
The web address is:
http://www.city.winnipeg.mb.ca/police/moralsunit/operation_snapshot.htm
By MICHELLE MACAFEE
WINNIPEG (CP) - Winnipeg police have a new weapon in their fight against prostitution -a john-cam that captures video footage of hookers getting into cars that is later posted on a public website.
Faces and licence plates will be blurred and a disclaimer on the site states not everyone who appears is a sex-trade worker or customer. But police said Wednesday they're confident Operation Snapshot, a pilot project believed to be the first of its kind in Canada, will help discourage the kind of steady traffic that is frustrating residents and business operators in some west and north neighbourhoods.
"Our experience was that if the johns or people who fuel the sex trade realized they weren't anonymous, that people were watching what they were doing, that they didn't want that," said Patrol Sgt. Kelly Dennison of the morals unit.
"This is kind of a back-lane, behind somebody's house or fence kind of thing."
But the website immediately drew criticism from Manitoba's privacy commissioner.
Barry Tuckett questioned whether cameras are justifiable, reasonable and effective when measured against the intrustion of privacy.
"My concern would be they're not the panacea, they're not the answer to crime," said Tuckett.
"There are also some other values that have to be measured and that is the fundamental right people have to be left alone, to not have the state intruding into their lawful activities on the street."
Even if people have nothing to hide but are captured on tape simply driving down the street, they may feel uncomfortable and become distrusting knowing they have been monitored.
Dennison said police will do all taping in person, in full view of the public, and will not use fixed cameras.
The website will only feature scenes police are confident depict transactions between hookers and Johns, not people stopping for directions or other apparent innocent activity.
"We're not putting clips on there that aren't realistic," said Dennison. "We're not in the business of wrecking families, these johns can do that themselves."
A community group representing 1,100 businesses in one high-traffic prostitution neighbourhood welcomed the project as another step in an ongoing battle to keep their streets free of hookers and johns.
"If you don't have a guilty conscience, what do you care if somebody asks you what you were doing on Ellice Avenue," said Trudy Turner, executive director of West End BIZ.
"It's pretty easy to explain. I can't see it being a big problem."
The web address is:
http://www.city.winnipeg.mb.ca/police/moralsunit/operation_snapshot.htm
