KINGSTON CITY HALL VIDEO SURVEILLANCE CITIZEN "POP-IN" TEST

MISSISSAUGA WATCH Blog:
http://www.mississaugablogs.com/Mississauga_Musings/


BOTTOMLINE: KINGSTON CITY HALL PASSES initial test!

We confess we fell in love with Kingston City Hall. Felt such reverance. It is the only city hall we've visited where CANADA happens.

CANADA lives and breathes inside Kingston city hall. Every Canadian should go --ask for Herb as your tour guide.

Back to the task at hand.

MISSISSAUGAWATCH is currently investigating the security practices of several Ontario municipalities and one Out-of-Province" for comparative purposes to those of Mississauga Corporate (City) Security.


On May 20, 2008, the husband/wife MISSISSAUGAWATCH team visited Kingston City Hall to conduct a quick'n easy test on their video surveillance compliance practices.




Regarding the Ontario city hall video surveillance test, we just answer this question.


Is there VIDEO SURVEILLANCE signage posted in underground parking and doors of [the subject] city hall? YES. NO.


If NO, then we looked around to see if there were VIDEO SURVEILLANCE cameras around. If there are. then the subject city hall is in VIOLATION of the 2001 "Guidelines for Using Video Surveillance Cameras in Public Places". We'd then be justified in wondering what other guidelines and legislation are also being violated by [the subject] city hall.

WARNING: Do not try this citizen-test yourself. Ontario municipalities can be shameless bullies only too happy to ban you from their Corporate Property. Things could even go worse --arrest.

A simple test that any citizen can conduct is to simply ask for a public complaints form. If they tell you to simply write a manager, or give you a generic online email address like info@yourcityhall, that should be a red flag for you. There's no formal public complaints process.

Just DO NOT CHALLENGE them.

If you're curious and wish to go further, there are ways a citizen can penetrate the Iron-est of iron municipal curtains. (And potentially blow the doors right off their government secrecy.)


File a Freedom of Information request on [the subject] city hall's security and privacy practices. Quite simple and it only costs $5.00. Something like:


ITEM:


Record of all incidents, bans, arrests issued by [city hall] security for the last ten years.


Record of all public complaints against [city hall] security staff.


Record of all agendas/minutes of meetings of [city hall] security for the past ten years.


All policies/procedures and protocols pertaining to [city hall] security practices: (ie. video surveillance, banning/arrest practices)


Record (notes, email, working papers) regarding the choice of locations of all video surveillance cameras.


MISSISSAUGAWATCH has plenty of other items that you can probe your Ontario city hall about. Email us.


For a pdf file on these Ontario Privacy guidelines, please see:


http://www.ipc.on.ca/images/Resources/video-e.pdf


WARNING: Your ass just might fall off when you get back the results. Make sure that you're sitting down when you open the envelope from your city.


Should your city try to send you a letter with no information before demanding 50% of a whopping dollar amount for search time, severance etc, please email us. (They and BIG BROTHER have then drawn the attentions of MISSISSAUGAWATCH!)

KINGSTON CITY HALL MISSISSAUGA BIG BROTHER VIDEO SURVEILLANCE ONTARIO PRIVACY FREEDOM OF INFORMATION QUIS CUSTODIET IPSOS CUSTODES

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• KINGSTON
• CITY
• HALL
• MISSISSAUGA
• BIG
• BROTHER
• VIDEO
• SURVEILLANCE
• ONTARIO
• PRIVACY
• FREEDOM
• OF
• INFORMATION
• QUIS
• CUSTODIET
• IPS

[kuczera1]

That's right...there is WAY more history in Kingston than in Toronto - because they care about where they are going AND where they came from. Toronto sucks!