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3 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,A ugust 22,2019 insidehalton.com An Oakville woman is calling on the town to join many other municipalities and restrict where people can point their pri- vate surveillance cameras. The local resident, who asked not to be identified, has been having issues with her neigh- bour for years but says the con- flict escalated in 2016 when heflict escalated in 2016 when hef began putting video surveil- lance cameras on his property. "At first the camera was at the back, and then last year, in June, it was moved to the front, and basically it films most of my front yard," she said.front yard," she said.f More concerning, the woman said, is a camera her neighbour installed, which is concealed by a dome so she can't tell where it is pointing. She researched the brand, and she said the camera can be remotely controlled and magni- fy distant objects.fy distant objects.f "It could intrusively film within my home, and it could film within bedrooms," said thefilm within bedrooms," said thef woman. "I find this violating." The individual says she has contacted Halton police but was told they could not help. When reached for comment, Halton police said it is not a criminal of- fence to have a camera as long asfence to have a camera as long asf it is intended and aimed to cover a portion of the owner's own property. For a charge of voyeurism to come into play, police said, they would have to prove intent to look into a place where the vic- tim has a reasonable expecta- tion of privacy. Since police ap- pear to be unable to help her, the woman is turning to the Town of Oakville for assistance and is calling on it to join other munic- ipalities in the area and pass an anti-fortification bylaw. The bylaw - which can be found in Burlington, Milton,found in Burlington, Milton,f Halton Hills, Hamilton, Toron- to, Ajax, London, Newmarket, Oshawa, Peterborough, Picker- ing, Vaughan and Windsor - pre- vents residents from fortifying their properties with things like steel plates and bulletproof shutters, and it also prohibits the use of surveillance equip- ment, including video cameras, beyond the perimeter of the land actually owned, leased or rented by the occupant. "This means that personal video surveillance cameras are only permitted to view people and land on your own property, and nothing beyond your prop- erty lines," said the Oakville woman. "This certainly seems rea- sonable. If someone is filming for security reasons, theyfor security reasons, theyf shouldn't have a problem with this law. if they do have a prob- lem with it, then the filming is likely meant to be intrusive by the person filming beyond their property lines." The woman said that, in other municipalities, the bylaw is purely complaint-driven. Suzanne Vukosavljevic, com- munications manager for the City of Burlington, emphasized the surveillance-camera re- strictions put in place by the Burlington bylaw are not abso- lute. She said all complaints are in- vestigated on a case-by-case ba- sis and if there are privacy con- cerns the matter might be re- ferred to the police.ferred to the police.f "If the facts meet the defini- tions and general prohibitions in the bylaw, then the city will enforce accordingly," said Vuko- savljevic. Jane Courtemanche, director of strategy, policy and commu- nications with the Town of Oak- ville, confirmed that Oakville has no anti-fortification bylaw. She said there has not been a demand in Oakville for a similar bylaw. The anti-fortification bylaws in other municipalities appear to have been introduced in an ef- fort to prevent outlaw motorcy-fort to prevent outlaw motorcy-f cle gangs from coming to these communities and establishing clubhouses that are, in reality, fortified bunkers.fortified bunkers.f The Burlington anti-fortifi- cation bylaw was passed on Nov. 11, 2002, to prevent such "biker bunkers" from taking root in Burlington. Courtemanche said that, as with any civil matter between neighbours, the town encourag- es residents to first try to resolve the issue through discussion. She said Halton police will advise homeowners on the prop- er positioning of cameras to avoid conflict. avoid conflict. a NEWS WOMAN CALLS FOR SURVEILLANCE-CAMERA RESTRICTIONS INDIVIDUAL POINTS TO BYLAWS IN OTHER COMMUNITIES, TO RESOLVE CONFLICT WITH NEIGHBOUR DAVID LEA dlea@metroland.com