Pilot project capturing downtown Windsor activity

There are a lot of cameras in the downtown area with Windsor police having leaned on many for footage to assist their investigations.

“That's happened a couple of times as recent as last week, an unfortunate assault that took place in the downtown,” said Stephen MacKenzie, CEO of Invest Windsor-Essex.

Mayor Drew Dilkens points to the success of Detroit's Crime Centre.

“We want the entire city to be safe,” Dilkens said. “There is no doubt camera technology is part of that solution and we're looking very actively on how we can develop a real-time crime centre that will help the city provide the safety and security that residents need and deserve.”

A pilot project between ACS Security and downtown businesses has proven real-time cameras work.

“Compared to last year, 2022, within the same time frame that there was almost 270 incidents within a small block radius that we monitor and patrol and compared to this year we've reduced that by almost 60-70 percent,” said, Hassan Hammoud, vice president of Operations.

With 4k resolution and high end digital zoom quality the cameras have both detect and follow capabilities allowing for critical surveillance.

“We've seen weapon wielding individuals,” Hammoud said. “We've notified police immediately on those cases. We've seen people try to break into businesses that we service. We've seen individuals deal narcotics.”

ACS Security’s pro-active approach has helped report over 70 incidents to Windsor police in the last couple of months.

“We're not going to completely eradicate crime but we are going to mediate it as much as possible,” Hammoud said.

The company guarantees data collected is private and protected which puts city Coun. Renaldo Agostino at ease.

“People need to feel they know they're not being constantly followed and watched,” said Agostino who would like to see this project implemented across the city.

“Whatever we can do to expedite the process of being able to support Windsor Police in this manner I think we should do.”