As B.C. businesses grapple with crime, violence and street disorder, the president of London Drugs says the company is “handcuffed” by privacy laws that bar it from sharing security footage of in-store assaults and violent shoplifting.
“The privacy commissioners take a very dim view of releasing surveillance to the public,” Clint Mahlman told Global News in an interview at the chain’s Woodwards location on Jan. 30. “I think if the public was to see what our staff deal with on a daily basis, they would be horrified and demand even more change faster than what they are now.”
While noting he is sympathetic to retailers and the rise in shoplifting they’re experiencing, B.C.’s Information and Privacy Commissioner said companies generally cannot disclose information to the public in a manner which is not consistent with the purpose for which they collected it.
“We value our privacy differently in British Columbia and that’s why we have those laws,” said Michael Harvey.
Many private companies, including London Drugs, collect surveillance video for security purposes.
“Any use of it other than that or any disclosure other than that should be, as the general principle, with their consent and we do that to protect people’s privacy,” Harvey told Global News.
The privacy commissioner said businesses can release security video to law enforcement if it records criminal code violations or offences.
BC Conservative MLA and public safety critic Elenore Sturko, a former RCMP officer, said retailers could obscure suspect identities on security footage in order to release it to give the public a taste of what they’re facing.
“Stores are in a tricky situation too because they want to maintain that balance between pressuring the government to help address the issue and trying not to scare away every customer that they’re going to have,” said Sturko in an interview.
London Drugs says it has lost more than $10 million over 15 years at its Woodwards location where Mahlman said customers feel unsafe due to ongoing street disorder, while physical and verbal violence against its employees has been intolerable for years.