Charlottetown police say E-watch surveillance cameras prevent crime

Charlottetown police say the 30 video cameras installed outside city businesses as part of theEwatch programare helping to prevent crimeand provide information for investigations and the program will continue to expand.

Local businesses buy the cameras for $5,000 and police have access to them in the event of a crime.

Det.Sgt. Brad MacConnell says he believes the camerashave already helped with crime prevention, although it'stoo early to provide concrete data.

"We've already received favourable comments from people and businesses in the downtown that have seen an improvement in the area of crime prevention since the cameras have been deployed," said MacConnell.

He says the cameras havebeen used a number of times for smaller things, such as property damage and expects to get more feedback over time.

"I think we'll hear from our citizens in a year's time and we'll engage them to see if they feel it's an initiative that should carry forward," MacConnell said.

Police say an additional 15 cameras are expected to be installed by the end of the month, with the goal of having a total of80 installedacross the city by August.

The cameras arein the downtown core, for the most part, thoughsome are as far away as theCanadian Tire near the Charlottetown Mall.

Footage isused onlyin the case of a criminal investigationand cameras are not actively monitored with videos retained for twoweeks, according to police.