A dispute between two Waterdown neighbours and a peeping Tom incident in St. Catharines have prompted Hamilton councillors to consider approving a bylaw that would outlaw residential surveillance cameras that point into other people’s homes.

“This is something I’m growing more and more concerned about,” said Stoney Creek councillor Brad Clark during the Oct. 28 council meeting. “It’s creepy.”

In Waterdown, there have been a long-standing problem between two homeowners over a so-called “Berlin wall” that one neighbour has built. The owner has installed backyard cameras that point into the property of the adjacent neighbour who has been criticizing the wall.

And earlier this year a St. Catharines single mother with two teenage daughters installed nighttime backyard cameras that captured their neighbour’s son masturbating while looking into her daughters’ rooms. In September, the so-called peeping Tom’s parents installed their own night vision surveillance cameras and pointed them into the direction of the single mother’s home.

The Niagara Regional Police, and the Attorney General have not conclusively commented on the issue, except for labeling it a “neighbour dispute.”

Coun. Clark and Ancaster councillor Lloyd Ferguson found the implications of allowing residents to install cameras that point into other property owners’ property disturbing.
Coun. Clark asked city officials and legal representatives to investigate the feasibility of crafting a bylaw to prohibit residential surveillance cameras.

“You have to be sure the bylaw doesn’t tread into violating privacy,” said Coun. Clark. “You’d have to approach it very carefully.”

“The cameras are so cheap (to buy and install),” said Coun. Ferguson. “This is crazy.”

Just to add to the delicate issues politicians were entering into, Ward 8 (west Mountain) councillor Terry Whitehead asked how would police or the city’s bylaw enforcement staff determine where the cameras were pointed.

It is unknown how long it will take for staff to craft a report to prohibit surveillance cameras.