Newmarket camera surveillance slammed as 'creepy'

Thursday, 19 March 2015

A decision to nearly double the number of video surveillance cameras in Auckland's Newmarket shopping precinct has been described as 'a little bit creepy' by a privacy advocacy group.

Newmarket Business Association chief executive Mark Knoff-Thomas said the association was almost doubling the number of security cameras which monitor public spaces in Newmarket in an effort to fight crime in the area.

Knoff-Thomas said, on the advice of police and private security providers, he would not disclose how many video cameras were currently monitoring the precinct or how many cameras would be installed.

'Criminals can map out an area, find all the cameras, count where they are and then they just avoid those areas,' Knoff-Thomas said.

New cameras would be installed on main transport routes and entry ways, major shopping areas, back streets, and commercial areas, he said.

'We've tried to do as much as we possibly can.'

NZ Council for Civil Liberties spokesman Thomas Beagle said the public had a right to know where cameras were being installed if they monitored public areas.

'I find it, to be honest, just a little bit creepy and I think other people will as well,' Beagle said.

He would like to see evidence which proved that installing security cameras reduced crime.

Security surveillance throughout society was only going to increase especially as monitoring systems became more affordable, he said.

Knoff-Thomas said the association would spend about $250,000 on security this year and that would be reviewed for the following year.

'Newmarket is taking a very firm stance on crime, and is investing heavily in new tools to make that happen,' Knoff-Thomas said.

The association was funded by a levy which was applied to business rates, he said.

The additional cameras would be installed in March and April and existing cameras would be upgraded, he said.

The cameras were monitored by a private security firm based in a nearby police station during business hours, he said.

Outside of business hours the police had access to the surveillance, he said.

Modern cameras were cheaper and the technology was much better than the existing cameras which were installed five to seven years ago, he said.

'Our new cameras will deliver crystal-clear pictures both day and night and have the ability to zoom in on very small details over a wide area.'

In the early hours of Monday a car that was believed to be stolen fled at high speed from the scene of a ram-raid of a Footlocker shoe shop in Newmarket.

Newmarket business precinct includes nearly 1300 businesses, 13 public carparks and two cinema complexes.