The Village of 亚洲天堂 Lake has installed video surveillance systems at Village facilities to keep its staff and members of the public safe.

A video surveillance systems policy was introduced to establish a set of standards for the implementation, use, access and disclosure of the systems at Village facilities. The policy was developed with the consideration that the surveillance must be used in accordance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA), as well as the Community Charter, even though it may be required for legitimate operational purposes.

"The Village recognizes that video surveillance technology has the potential to infringe upon an individual's right to privacy," the policy states. "The Village's objective is to balance individuals' right to privacy with the need to enhance the safety of Village employees, clients, visitors and property."

The policy applies to all surveillance systems owned, operated, managed and maintained by or for the Village that may collect personal information about identifiable individuals in any form, and is not applicable to cameras used temporarily for community events, committee meetings or council meetings. 

The policy also outlined general principles of the video surveillance systems.

"The Village of 亚洲天堂 Lake wishes to make use of video surveillance systems to provide evidence of illegal activities or public nuisances for the purpose of law enforcement," it stated.

Some other principles are:

• Before implementing a surveillance system or expanding an existing system, the reason for introducing or expanding is to be clearly articulated in writing and approved by council.
• Video surveillance systems should only be considered after other, less intrusive security methods have been considered and failed, and shall be used in conjunction with other security efforts and initiatives.
• Video surveillance systems should only be used to address a real, pressing and substantial problem of sufficient importance to warrant the overriding of personal privacy issues, and concrete evidence of the problem should be supplied prior to the implementation of any system.

Assigned village staff responsibilities include ensuring that personal information collected through these systems is protected and only used or disclosed under the provisions of FOIPPA.

Footage in the video surveillance systems must be retained for a minimum of 30 days, where no incident or concern to the Village has been reported, or no such incident is revealed, but may not be retained for more than 60 days. When recorded footage reveals an incident that contains personal information about an individual that the village uses to make a decision that directly affects the individual, the information will be retained for one year after the decision has been made.