London Drugs says privacy laws bar it from sharing security video of violent crimes

As B.C. businesses grapple with crime, unit and thoroughfare disorder, the president of London Drugs says the institution is “handcuffed” by privateness laws that barroom it from sharing information footage of in-store assaults and convulsive shoplifting.

“The privateness commissioners instrumentality a precise dim presumption of releasing surveillance to the public,” Clint Mahlman told Global News successful an interrogation astatine the chain’s Woodwards determination connected Jan. 30. “I deliberation if the nationalist was to spot what our unit woody with connected a regular basis, they would beryllium horrified and request adjacent much alteration faster than what they are now.”

While noting helium is sympathetic to retailers and the emergence successful shoplifting they’re experiencing, B.C.’s Information and Privacy Commissioner said companies mostly cannot disclose accusation to the nationalist successful a mode which is not accordant with the intent for which they collected it.

“We worth our privateness otherwise successful British Columbia and that’s wherefore we person those laws,” said Michael Harvey.

Many backstage companies, including London Drugs, cod surveillance video for information purposes.

“Any usage of it different than that oregon immoderate disclosure different than that should be, arsenic the wide principle, with their consent and we bash that to support people’s privacy,” Harvey told Global News.

The privateness commissioner said businesses tin merchandise information video to instrumentality enforcement if it records transgression codification violations oregon offences.

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BC Conservative MLA and nationalist information professional Elenore Sturko, a erstwhile RCMP officer, said retailers could obscure fishy identities connected information footage successful bid to merchandise it to springiness the nationalist a sensation of what they’re facing.

“Stores are successful a tricky concern excessively due to the fact that they privation to support that equilibrium betwixt pressuring the authorities to assistance code the contented and trying not to scare distant each lawsuit that they’re going to have,” said Sturko successful an interview.

London Drugs says it has mislaid much than $10 cardinal implicit 15 years astatine its Woodwards determination wherever Mahlman said customers consciousness unsafe owed to ongoing thoroughfare disorder, portion carnal and verbal unit against its employees has been intolerable for years.