White Rock council has balked at the potential costs of an extensive closed-circuit camera (CCTV) system, following a report on available options.

Instead, councillors voted on a motion from Coun. Christopher Trevelyan to have staff consult the White Rock RCMP detachment on narrowing the scope of such a project to a smaller number of critical locations, in different areas of the city, while investigating the costs of that.

Council also endorsed a motion from Coun. Elaine Cheung, to look into the possibility, and associated costs, of employing bylaw officers or private security guards to act as a deterrent for criminal activity.

While it did not form a major part of the discussion at Monday night's (July 15) meeting, the decision comes in the wake of community safety concerns heightened by two evening stabbing incidents at the waterfront in April. The second of those, on April 23, resulted in the death of Kulwinder Singh Sohi, and a subsequent second-degree murder charge against Dimitri Nelson Hyacinth, currently before the courts.

Coun. David Chesney also warned that "there is trouble brewing on the waterfront," noting that he has received numerous complaints of late night partying around recreational vehicles in the Marine Drive parking lots.

Following up on a Nov. 27 direction, chief information officer Chris Zota presented a corporate report on a request for quotations (RFQ) process for a CCTV system, based on White Rock RCMP's identification of 30 critical areas at the waterfront and in the uptown area where non-monitored CCTV cameras could be installed to "deter violent crime and anti-social behaviour" and assist in collecting evidence in criminal investigations.

"We did not receive as many responses (to the RFQ) as we would have liked to," Zota noted.

Although the lowest bid of four received came in at $262,437, Zota recommended high bidder Houle Electric based on their proposal, which, he said "demonstrates a better understanding of the scope of the work and the complexities it entails."

The snag, however, was the price tag involved. Factoring in the Houle bid of $571,000, a 25 per cent contingency budget, plus costs for a contracted project manager and a consultant to assist with submitting Privacy Impact Assessment applications (in observance of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act), the large-scale option would amount to an estimated total of $823,750, plus an annual operating total of $60,000.

According to the report, the recommendation for an extensive system would be to install cameras as a one to two-year pilot project, as it would take time to assess the effectiveness of the project – and other, unforeseen, costs might arise.

The second option suggested in the report was limiting cameras to a handful of "higher-risk, strategic locations" identified by the RCMP, and having staff investigate costs of this.

"The cost would be a lot less substantial for say three to four locations, and more practical, in that sense," Zota told council.

As city chief administrator Guillermo Ferrero noted in his remarks on the written version of the report,  "while a project like this seems easy to implement on the surface, ... such a service brings with it complexity and additional external and internal resources to deliver."

Associated operating costs for extensive CCTV monitoring would mean additional taxation for residents, he added.

The estimates were enough for Coun. Christopher Trevelyan, who had initially suggested last year that it might be time for the city to consider installing a CCTV system.

"I think it's really important to consider CCTV cameras in key locations, (but) saying that, we're looking at estimates of over $27,000 per camera, plus a $60,000 a year operating cost – for me I have to balk at that number," he said.

"I don't think we can afford it at this price tag – almost $1 million – so my preference is to go for option number two."

Trevelyan said he'd found, in previous conversation with the detachment commander, Staff Sgt. Rob Dixon, "the number one area they want to focus on, the one that's hardest for them, is the area around Memorial Park, the pier, that area where they can't see from patrol cars – I'm envisioning starting from that, at the smaller scale."

Coun. Ernie Klassen said he feels residents of White Rock "would like to see some form of security like this happening."

"But I'm not sure that we can get by at close to $1 million," he added.

In response to a question from Klassen, Zota said that the majority of the locations identified to this point by the RCMP were on Marine Drive, but noted the list represented locations, not the actual number of cameras required.

Depending on the location, "we might have to use multiple cameras, or a camera with multiple heads (or lenses) inside," he said.

Coun. Elaine Cheung said that while she agreed with Trevelyan that fewer cameras were more practicable, "I do think we should look at adding physical presence of bylaw officers of security guards – patrolling more often might have more immediate impact."

She suggested staff look into hiring extra bylaw officers or security guards to patrol Marine Drive between April and October.

At Mayor Megan Knight's suggestion, Ferrero explained that adding bylaw officers would be far more costly than hiring security guards from a private company, due to benefits and requirements for a full shift for city employees, while security guards can be hired on an hourly basis.

He agreed that security guards could have a deterrent effect, although he noted they would not be authorized to intervene in a criminal act, but only to call in an alarm to the RCMP.