Date: 4/1/07
Author: Amanda-Marie Quintino
Source: Canadian Press

TORONTO — Recently installed security cameras are already helping police investigate an early-morning downtown shooting on Yonge Street near the site of a tragic shooting a year ago.

Footage from the closed-circuit television cameras will make it easier for police to track the suspect, said Staff-Sgt. Stan Belza.

“Just the simple fact that we have (Saturday’s) shooting on tape makes it obvious why these cameras are so useful to police,” Belza said Sunday.
The three cameras were installed on Dec. 18 and are expected to remain until at least Jan. 7.

The cameras captured a 15-year-old being shot in the leg near the landmark Sam the Record Man, only metres from where Jane Creba, also 15, was fatally shot last Boxing Day, 2005.

Police said the unidentified victim managed to walk into nearby St. Michael’s Hospital at 7:30 a.m., almost two hours after he was shot.

“Several shots were fired. I can’t say exactly how many, but there were at least four,” said Belza, who added that the entire shooting was caught on the cameras, which were installed for the holiday season after complaints from local business owners who feared a repeat of the Creba shooting.

Police are still investigating whether the teen was the intended target.

Although the Toronto Police Service currently has no plans to place more closed-circuit cameras in other spots across the city, Belza supports the pilot project and is confident it will continue to prove useful as a suspect-tracking technique.

“Those cameras are already proving to be a highly effective crime-solving tool,” said Belza.

“We realize there is a privacy issue associated with them, but notices have been put out, people know that they’re there. I think that since they’re for the greater good and they’re doing good, those cameras are definitely useful.”

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