Windsor Ontario - The City of Windsor is looking to install security cameras near a Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) site to combat illegal dumping.
 
Last year, the city installed test cameras in areas where illegal dumping tends to be rampant, in an effort to capture people on tape and identify them using their licence plate numbers.
 
But an area between University Avenue West and Wyandotte Street presents a different set of challenges because it's owned by CP, a privately owned company with its own police, which means the city cannot enforce its bylaws there.
 
"There's a large section in there that's owned by CP, and they've experienced some dumping problems and homelessness," said Dwayne Dawson, the city's executive director of operations.
 
"We don't have any jurisdiction on the property, but in the alley that abuts the property is where a lot of the illegal dumping happens. It's kind of out sight, and not a lot of light, so it's an easy spot to target."
 
He explained that a lot of people dump large furniture and appliances instead of paying to take them to the dump.
 
Dawson said the city has been working with CP to try to clear out some of the large items dropped off there erroneously.
 
The Environment, Transportation, and Public Safety Standing Committee received a report on the matter at a meeting on Wednesday.
 
The city currently has four surveillance cameras, three of which are currently being used for monitoring known dump site areas.
 
"We're deploying those cameras around the city and trying to capture some of the people who are doing the illegal dumping so that we can put an end to it and try to clean up some of those sites that are abused by people."
 
The cameras, which work well in the day and night, are moved around every two weeks, Dawson explained, to different "hotspots" known to the city so that they can monitor as many areas as possible on rotation.
 
The area near the CP property is already on the wait list to be monitored, he said.
 
As for the presence of homeless people who create "makeshift shelters" in the alley, Dawson said the city will try and provide help to those people whenever possible.
 
"We turn that over to our social services department. It helps to deal with some of the homelessness," he said.
 
Dawson said CP has been "responsive" in working with the city to provide a solution to the problem, but added the city would like to see the railway company act on a more "proactive basis" rather than a "reactive" one.
 
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