Stop the Cameras Coalition

Stop the Cameras Coalition

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Welcome to the Stop the Cameras Coalition website

Shortly after the City Council approved Lance Sherk's recommendations about the surveillance cameras, Councillor Bill Juby announced that the DBIA was withdrawing their request for City approval and their offer to pay the $85 000 for the cameras' installation. Instead, they have decided to pay the full costs to have cameras on their private property. According to Coun. Juby, the cameras will cover about 90% of the downtown area, and the images will be broadcast live on the internet.

The City's Report on the Cameras - Prepared by Lance Sherk

The Stop the Cameras Coalition's Counter-Report

"There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment... You had to live -- did live, from habit that became instinct -- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized." -- George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four

The City of Peterborough has moved toward having several surveillance cameras installed in the downtown core, covering a span of 15 blocks. The reason for this move seems to be one of mutual benefit for all visitors and retailers in the downtown business area; however, once this premise is held up to scrutiny, it appears that the benefits are few, if any. Another reason that has been given to install the cameras is that they will create an increased sense of security felt by visitors who frequent the downtown core. In reality, the facts paint a very different picture.

This website examines the arguments given for installing the cameras, and offer arguments and statistics proving that the cameras are not only a violation of our basic civil liberties, but also a big waste of money.

Do you like feeling as if you're being watched all the time?

We don't!