City and police cameras joining downtown safety camera program

The Downtown Community Safety Partnership is expanding its camera program. Harrison Shin reports.

The Downtown Community Safety Partnership (DCSP) is expanding its camera program, Beacon.

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham confirmed the partnership will gain access to city and police security cameras on CTV Your Morning Winnipeg on Monday.

Currently, the majority of cameras in Beacon are privately owned, according to DCSP coordinated assistance network manager Joe MacDonald.

“It could be a restaurant. We partnered, for example, with Canadian Footwear, which is a retail store. We have cameras up at The Forks as well as Canada Life Centre and True North Square,” MacDonald told CTV News.

The network consists of around 49 cameras covering seven locations downtown. With municipal and police cameras joining the network, the total will reach about 100 cameras across 45 locations, MacDonald said.

“It allows the DCSP and their partner agencies to really monitor what’s happening in the downtown,” Gillingham said. “Yes, they look for criminal activity, but primarily they are looking for people who are struggling with social issues.

“Someone is, let’s say, they’re intoxicated. If someone is perhaps sleeping in an area and that makes them vulnerable, DCSP with their partners, including the police, the fire, paramedics, and others, can dispatch individuals to go and help those folks out.”

Canadian Footwear joined the network in 2023 when it first launched.

“It certainly gives us the ability to know that on the streets or outside of our store, that there is somebody watching the monitors and being able to see if there are issues—or just be able to make sure that everything is safe on our streets,” said Brian Scharfstein, senior director of Canadian Footwear.

He believes the program should expand citywide.

“I’m encouraging—and believe—that it should be part of our business levy. It should be part of our business tax being used to have a CCTV Beacon program that is throughout our city—and it will make it a safer city overall.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Winnipeg Police Service said the cameras will join in the near future, but no official date is available yet.

“The WPS will not have connection to any other cameras but our own,” the spokesperson added.