Trois-Rivières home camera registry helps police, Montreal explores similar plan

Home cameras could help solve crimes in Trois-Rivières, where a police registry with private camera locations can help investigators. Now, Montreal police (SPVM) are exploring bringing the initiative to the city.

Under the voluntary program, Trois-Rivières residents can register the location of their private surveillance cameras with the City’s police service. If a crime occurs nearby, officers can contact owners and request access to footage.

Police do not have live access to cameras and cannot view recordings without the owner’s consent.

Around 1,700 Trois-Rivières residents have signed up since the program launched in 2018. While the City says it is difficult to quantify exactly how many cases have been solved with the help of registry footage, officials describe it as a useful investigative tool.

“When a crime needs to be solved, for example, a break in, we go in the neighborhood and the police officers have a mapping of where the cameras are that we can have access,” said Mikaël Morrissette, public relations manager and spokesperson for the City of Trois-Rivières.

As Montreal considers rolling out a registry, residents appeared divided on the idea.

Mark Bellavance said he would participate if the police created such a registry, “I would trust the SPVM to take control of this and take any action that could be required.”

“I have a Ring doorbell, I’d be very happy to give over information of some crimes happening,” said Nathalie, a Montreal resident.

“I would give my footage because I would cooperate and if there’s a crime especially in the area it would really help the victims,” said Ramy Fawaz.

Another Montrealer Blair Dohey said he won’t participate in a registry for privacy reasons.

“I’d rather keep my business my business,” said Dohey.

Morrissette emphasized the registry operates strictly on a voluntary basis.

“If for any reason at all, people don’t want us to check at the footage. It is a tool supplementary that the police officers have, but it is not the only one. So it is a 100 per cent voluntary basis,” said Morrissette.

Legal experts say police would still need a warrant to access surveillance camera footage.

“They would need to go in front of a judge and demonstrate that this footage is necessary and that there’s reasonable grounds to require this footage to investigate the crime that’s being investigated,” said Elodie Meyer, a technology lawyer.

However, if residents voluntarily hand over, Meyer says they could lose control over how it is used.

“Once the police has that footage in their own files and they can pretty much use it the way they see fit and you can’t really go back and tell the police well actually I want those images back,” said Meyer.

Officials in Trois-Rivières say other municipalities, including Sherbrooke, Laval and Gatineau, have expressed interest in the model.

In Montreal, SPVM confirmed discussions are underway about a potential pilot project involving the voluntary sharing of private surveillance images during criminal investigations.

In a statement to CityNews, SPVM said:

“This project would aim to improve the coverage of existing infrastructure and could offer benefits to participants, particularly businesses facing extortion issues. […] The participating entity would retain ownership of the images and the surveillance system.. […] This project is currently in the evaluation phase to verify its technological feasibility and compliance with privacy laws.”