CALGARY – Concerns are being raised about a security camera installed in the men’s washroom at a popular karaoke bar in the community of Mission.
Jared Moen contacted Global News after spotting the camera while visiting Ducky’s Pub on Tuesday.
He complains he feels his privacy was violated.
“I was just appalled,” Moen said. “It shouldn’t happen. I’ll never be going to that place again.”
Meanwhile, manager Costa Psichoulis told Global News the camera was installed 15 years ago to reduce crime.
“The reason it’s there is because we have people who go in there and vandalize,” Psichoulis said in a statement issued to Global News. “It also prevents people from doing drugs and we have caught people doing that.”
Psichoulis clarified the camera doesn’t point at anyone using nearby urinals or stalls. He said the footage auto-erases every week and is only accessed when there has been a crime.
A spokesperson for the Privacy and Information Commissioner of Alberta told Global News there are situations where security cameras are allowed in public washrooms, such as reducing crime.
Psichoulis said there are no cameras in the women’s washroom at Ducky’s.
The Privacy and Information Commissioner of Alberta notes it hasn’t ever received a formal complaint about the camera.