The City of Vancouver claims that four cameras at the intersection of Main and Hastings streets went offline due to a "staff error" when it began work to remove campers from the area.
Dozens of Vancouver police officers blocked off multiple streets and intersections in the densely populated Downtown Eastside area starting at around 8:50 a.m. on Wednesday (April 5) as city crews removed shelters along Hastings Street.
But the city's four traffic cameras went offline shortly after the VPD began cordoning off the area to pedestrians and traffic.
Several people shared images of the cameras on social media, with many of them commenting that the four cameras were offline for a large segment of time while most of the other city cameras were online.
The city told V.I.A. in an emailed statement that the feed for the cameras at the busy intersection was down from roughly 9 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. due to a "staff error."
"We acknowledge and apologize that this was very unfortunate given today's work in the East Hastings encampment. The camera feed is now working as it should," it stated.
Vancouverites react to cameras going down at Hastings encampment
Numerous people have taken to social media to share their reactions to the cameras going offline, with many of them commenting that the timing was suspicious.
Dorian Banks shared a tweet with images of the cameras that showed that they were "temporarily out-of-service" for about half an hour after police moved in.
30 minutes later. pic.twitter.com/iXc5tRzNjD
— dorianbanks.eth (@dorianbanks) April 5, 2023
Vancouver Criminal Law Lawyer Kyla Lee commented: "This is gross. This is really gross."
So much for being transparent.
— John W. Hayes (@purplejwhayes) April 5, 2023
Oh, wow. That's seriously wrong.
— Karen Mirsky (she/her) (@defendmyrights) April 5, 2023
Making sure no incriminating evidence is collected?
— Stanley Lee (@stanigator) April 5, 2023
The camera are not there for our safety.. they are there to keep a watch on us...
— arkyn pitzel (@ArkynPitzel) April 5, 2023
