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A row has broken out in one of Canada\u2019s wealthiest neighbourhoods over plans to use an AI-powered surveillance system to create the country\u2019s first \u201cvirtual gated community\u201d to combat surging property crime.<\/p>\n
Crime rates in Toronto<\/a> as a whole are dropping but residents of Rosedale have been left on edge by a sustained rise in home invasions, with robbers targeting the tree-lined neighbourhood at a rate more than double the city average. Break-ins and thefts remain the third highest per capita in Toronto.<\/p>\n Growing unease is reflected in the community\u2019s WhatsApp group, where as many as 60 out of about 350 members are already contributing to fund private security.<\/p>\n \u201cMy friends experienced a horrific home invasion here in the community \u2013 their children were held at knifepoint, and they will be traumatised for the rest of their life,\u201d said Craig Campbell, the Rosedale resident who proposed the plan. \u201cOther friends aren\u2019t sleeping well at night because they\u2019re anxious about the crime that\u2019s going to occur. Almost everyone knows someone who has been affected. Something has to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n In late March, residents attended a virtual meeting led by Campbell, who runs a security company. He outlined a plan in which an initial group of 100 residents would pay a C$200 (about \u00a3110) monthly subscription for technology that scans the licence plates<\/a> of cars passing through the virtual \u201cgate\u201d.<\/p>\n The US-based company Flock says the AI underpinning the technology can learn which cars belong to residents and which ones are suspicious. A rollout in the neighbourhood would mark Flock\u2019s entrance into the Canadian market.<\/p>\n Campbell emphasised that the cameras did not use facial recognition, instead collecting licence plate data to create \u201cwhitelists\u201d (known) and \u201cblacklists\u201d (suspicious) of vehicles entering the neighbourhood. Data collected by the camera is retained for 30 days and police would only be able to access data with legal authorisation. The system would work alongside the unarmed security guards who are already paid to patrol the area.<\/p>\n Campbell holds the Canadian licensing rights for Flock, and told the Guardian he \u201cabsolutely has a commercial interest in creating a viable business\u201d around the security system. But he also said he was motivated by a feeling of frustration from friends and neighbours that not enough was being done.<\/p>\n \u201cFor my family\u2019s safety, I\u2019m not waiting around for the government to fix this. Yes, it\u2019s a complex issue. But there\u2019s things that we can do today to help ourselves instead of waiting around,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The Guardian reviewed the March meeting in Toronto and found that many of the residents who spoke were enthusiastic about the project, as were members of the WhatsApp group. But others were less certain, citing concerns over AI bias, profiling and the broader spectre of surveillance.<\/p>\n