St. Catharines city council has thrown support behind an application for closed circuit television funding.
During last night's council meeting, all but one councillor voted in favour of supporting a Niagara Regional Police application to the Ontario CCTV Grant Program for $90,000 to install six cameras.
Councillor Greg Miller spoke against the idea saying it can lead to over-policing of racialized communities and reduce privacy for citizens.
He also cited studies from the UK where CCTVs did not reduce the rate of violent crime.
Before the vote Mayor Walter Sendzik said, "This isn't the silver bullet, if you will, that this is going to make an enormous amount of difference. We have to get to the root issues of crime and of what's happening in communities through poverty and lack of access to certain things."
He added this is an opportunity to have more information on crimes that are committed in the community.