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After trying conventional means to deal with an escalating amount of unsightly graffiti appearing in some of the Town of Two Mountains’ most picturesque parks and locations, municipal officials believe they have found a more effective and cost-efficient solution, using the latest video surveillance equipment and interactive high technology. “Graffiti is becoming a problem that is bothering everybody, especially in the past two years,” Mayor Marc Lauzon said during press conference last week, held on the waterfront, which is the site of some of the most unsightly graffiti in Two Mountains.
10-year-old vandals
“Obviously Two Mountains has not been spared by this,” he said. According to the mayor, a total of eight people have been apprehended in the town in the last three months alone while they were in the act of painting graffiti. Three of them were only 10 years of age, while the others were teens up to 17 years old. “This is something that has become very important and we have to do something about it.” While the town has tried to deal with it by increasing the presence of police around the dam and in other areas, town council has decided on what it feels is a better solution: 24-hour surveillance made possible with vandal- and weather-proof dome cameras.
Costing $18,000, the first one will be installed at the entranc ramp to the dam as a pilot project. The cost per camera unit can be compared with what the town spends annually for police and graffiti-removal in the area, which Lauzon estimates at $35,000 to $40,000. In addition to recording video of the surroundings, the camera system includes interactive audio, so that security staff at a monitoring station will be able to communicate with anyone within the area under surveillance. The technology is considered second to none in terms of the security provided.
Uses sensors
According to the mayor, attached sensors will be able to detect such subtleties as the number of individuals crossing the dam. Apparently it will also automatically be able to differentiate between one or two people who are out for a casual stroll on the walkway, and a large number of persons, which could mean the presence of a teenaged gang. A strobe light will start flashing if the system detects a sufficiently-unusual situation, and security staff will be able to take things a step further by communicating over the loudspeaker.
According to Lauzon, the Town of Bois-des-Filion has begun using the same system Two Mountains will be installing and it reports a significant reduction in graffiti as a result. While Two Mountains’s police force has been attempting to deal with graffiti incidents and other disturbances in neighbourhoods when residents report them, Lauzon noted that the response can take as long as 20 or 30 minutes, by which time offenders are long gone. Video evidence gathered by the cameras could also prove useful should charges be laid against persons caught in criminal acts.
A 10-year lifespan
If the system works well at the dam, the town has a dozen more locations where the same type of cameras would be installed. Each camera unit has an anticipated lifespan of 10 years. “This will be good not only from the standpoint of combating graffiti, but also for the everyday security of residents,” said Councillor Martin Bigras, who chairs council’s public security committee. “We want people to be able go out in the evening without feeling intimidated by anything or anyone. With this, people will feel comfortable in Two Mountains.”
In assessing various outdoor surveillance systems before finally settling on industrial-quality dome cameras made by Panasonic, Two Mountains had evaluated the merits of an alternative system known as the Mosquito, which works by emiting a high-frequency sound that typically is heard mostly by persons younger than 25 — a group that most often includes young vandals and graffiti artists. The Mosquito system, which came on the market last year, has been criticized as discriminating against all young people because it doesn’t differentiate between young law breakers and the law-abiding. That was one of the reasons it was rejected by the town.
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