Extra eyes watching you shop at Cornwall Centre

REGINA – Cornwall Centre is on the leading edge when it comes to body camera technology.

Doug Kozak, the mall’s general manager, said the inspiration behind the high-tech gear was officer safety.

The cameras catch everything from disruptive loiterers, shoplifters, and substance abusers.

The mall has had the devices for seven years, but is continuously upgrading the technology.

The latest cameras film in colour using 1080 pixels.

“The quality is just that much better, and when it’s used as a tool for prosecution it helps to have the best resolution and audio,” Kozak said.

The newest version also made it easy for shoppers to tell they are being recorded. You can see yourself on the mini-screen, a red light blinks, and there’s beeping when the camera turns on or off.

“It really has that effect on people of de-escalating the level of conflict and the type of language that they use.”

Security guard, Clint Miller, used the technology for the first time Thursday. “It’s fairly simple to operate. When you want to turn it on, there’s a slider on the right, you slide it down,” he said.

According to his boss, even the guards have adjusted their behavior based on the extra surveillance.

“They had to elevate their professionalism a little bit. They knew their actions were being taped and therefore subject to scrutiny as well,” Kozak said. There’s also a review aspect, “It allows us to debrief situations, so it helps us in training.”

The cameras are expensive, costing up to $1,400 dollars each (plus software and storage), but the mall says it’s worth it.

“Our number of incidents appears to be about the same, but the amount of time that we spend on having to respond to complaints from the public has come way down.”