Vancouver police are calling for a network of cameras in the downtown entertainment district, saying the area has become chaotic and dangerous since closing time was pushed to 4 a.m.
Police said yesterday the force is sick and tired of the public disorder that has descended along a three-block stretch of Granville Street, where late night bar hours have created a thriving social scene. They say a closed-circuit camera system similar to those used by police in Britain needs to be set up between Robson and Davie Streets.
"It is getting chaotic," Deputy Chief Constable Bob Rich said, adding he hopes a CCTV surveillance network will be in place next year.
Steve Schnitzer, a Vancouver police commander, said the abundance of alcohol and a crowded street scene lead to violence.
"We are going to fight after fight after fight," he said. "Things are getting out of control."
While police in several Canadian cities, including Vancouver, Toronto and Kelowna, , have used portable cameras to monitor special events such as street festivals, the only current static system is in Hamilton, where police using a network of cameras watch the downtown core around the clock.
Last month the Toronto Police Services Board approved a $2-million pilot project to install CCTV at high-crime locations in the city to record scenes that would be retained for up to 72 hours.
The Vancouver plan, however, is to have cameras actively watching over a street scene where thousands of people converge late at night, on weekends, to club hop and socialize.
Increasingly, police say they are going there to get drunk and cause trouble. At a news conference yesterday, police showed a video they shot of drunken brawls, public urination and open use of liquor on the street.
While plans for the CCTV system are still being made, police plan to immediately step up enforcement in the area.
"Starting this weekend we will be out in greater numbers to change this unfortunate dynamic that has developed," Deputy Chief Rich said.
Vancouver's entertainment district has become party central for the Lower Mainland since some 57 bars, pubs and cabarets in the area were allowed to push back closing time until 4 a.m. Outside the entertainment district most bars close at 2 a.m.
The decision to extend the hours was made three years ago by Vancouver's council to help bring nightlife back to the core area. At the time, council was trying to overcome the label of "No Fun City" attached to Vancouver after police, fearing violence, urged people to stay away from a New Year's Eve celebration and after a number of civic festive events were cancelled for budgetary reasons.
Since then, however, it seems that a lot more than fun has been drawn to the entertainment core, where there are more than 5,000 seats licensed for liquor sales among numerous establishments.
"We are struggling with the activities of some of the patrons. I have to say that many of the issues do not relate to the clubs, but to the practice of [people]coming down to the area with alcohol already purchased and drinking in and around the [Granville]Mall just to be part of the scene," Deputy Chief Rich said.
"Open public disorder, fighting in and around the bars and assaulting police officers has become all too common."
He said that two uniformed officers recently stood next to their patrol car on Granville Mall and handed out one ticket after another to people for alcohol-related offences. One suspect struggled with police, leaving an officer with his leg broken in four places.
Deputy Chief Rich said that since April, police patrolling the three-block strip have made 310 arrests for drunkenness. They have also handed out 113 tickets for urinating in public, 194 for consuming liquor in a public place and 246 for being intoxicated.
He said that many people drive to the area drunk and continue to drink on the street.
Commander Schnitzer said that in the crackdown police intend to replace the tickets, where possible, with criminal charges.
At the news conference, police introduced Chief Superintendent Dick Naylor, president of the Superintendents Association of England and Wales, who was in the province to advise Vancouver police on CCTV systems.
Supt. Naylor, who initially oversaw the installation of CCTV in Yorkshire, said there was at first heated debate in England over privacy issues -- but over the past decade police surveillance of public spaces has become commonplace.
"It is well accepted now," he said. "We find it an extremely useful tool."
Vance Campbell, spokesman for Barwatch, an association of bars and nightclubs in Vancouver, said cameras on the street would be welcomed.
"I'm supportive of that. We spend a lot of money and energy trying to keep our patrons and our businesses safe, and that has included putting CCTV in most bars and restaurants . . . I think these things hold people accountable."
But Jason Gratl, a Vancouver lawyer and president of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said his organization would oppose the camera proposal.
"Closed circuit video monitoring has been shown to displace [rather than eliminate]crime," he said. "It infringes privacy, is inefficient and wasteful."
In 2001 the federal Privacy Commissioner ruled out the use of round-the-clock police surveillance cameras to videotape activity on public streets, saying it violated the Privacy Act.
Several years ago Vancouver police proposed installing 23 video cameras in the crime-ridden Downtown Eastside, but that plan was never followed through.
Mark Hume