Santa's not the only one with an overview of the community to see who's naughty or nice.
Since their installation about a year ago, there are now 26 CCTV cameras in and around the Lac La Biche downtown, plus video surveillance at the Bold center, McArthur Park and the firehall. The municipally-owned cameras continue to receive high praise from the area's policing agencies.
"The cameras are definitely assisting with a lot of different tasks," said Lac La Biche Enforcement Services supervisor Sgt. Chris Clark. "The cameras have been a great addition and assist both our Peace Officers and RCMP on a regular basis. The cameras are utilized almost daily in terms of assisting with investigating complaints of loitering, altercations, motor vehicle collisions, assisting with locating persons of interest who are being sought by Police or Peace Officers and various other applications."
The cameras have also been instrumental in some fire department investigation of recent blazes or mischief calls.
Lac La BIche RCMP Corp. Trevor Cardinal has the same regard for the the video overwatch.
"They assist us in our investigations of after hours crimes and tracking subjects," said Cardinal, adding that the cameras can add to an investigation or reduce time spent on false complaints. "They images can help to collaborate allegations or disprove false allegations. They are a useful tool on both sides of the coin."
The cameras are not monitored 24 hours a day, helping to avoid any privacy issues residents may have. Footage of certain events can be found to help police with active investigations.
The quality of the footage is very good, says Clark.
"The quality of the images are high quality and provide very clear images," he said. "Obviously though the quality depends on lighting, distance the subject is away from the camera, weather, obstructions like vehicles that limit some of the viewing of certain incidents. But for the most part we don’t run into many issues."
