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Security cameras at police station haven't been recording for months, leaked email shows

Sault Ste. Marie Police Service says all cameras at the station have been recording since May 2 after cyberattack wiped out ability to record security camera footage for a period of eight months
06-25-2020-SaultPoliceStockSummerJH01
James Hopkin/SooToday

Defence lawyer Naomi Sayers thinks it’s “absolutely insane” that security cameras haven’t been recording anything at Sault Ste. Marie Police Service headquarters for the past eight months. 

Sayers learned about the security cameras after she had sent an email to the police service, asking that footage of an alleged interaction that she had with an officer at police headquarters last month not be discarded after 30 days as per police service policy. 

The lawyer originally asked for the camera footage by way of a freedom of information request she had filed with Sault Ste. Marie Police Service in late April.   

“Although our policy does state that we retain the video for 30 days, our IT department has informed me that since the cyberattack on August 26, 2021, our cameras currently are not able to record video,” reads an email from a member of Sault Ste. Marie Police Service that was sent to Sayers May 3. “Our IT department is unable to provide a time frame as to when this will become functional again.”

Sayers — a lawyer from Garden River First Nation who was recently turned down by the Ontario Liberal Party to be nominated as candidate for the Sault Ste. Marie riding in the upcoming provincial election — told SooToday Wednesday that she no longer feels safe attending the police station alone. 

“I could never, in good conscience or good faith, advise somebody to attend a police station knowingly when there are no recordings happening. What if they show up, and a police officer is having a bad day and takes it out on the client? What if the client has medical distress, what if a client gets injured?” she said. 

Sault Ste. Marie Police Service spokesperson Lincoln Louttit told SooToday Thursday that all security cameras at the police station have been recording as of May 2, but wouldn’t respond to any questions around public safety or exactly how the cyberattack compromised the recording function of the cameras. 

“Obviously, with the effect the cyberattack had on the service, there were a number of priority systems that needed to be rebuilt and restored,” Louttit said.  

Police Services Board Chair Lisa Vezeau-Allen declined to comment when SooToday reached out via email. The board chair noted that “this falls under operational matter, not board governance.”  

Sault Ste. Marie Police Service Chief Hugh Stevenson told SooToday in February that the cyberattack, which resulted in the encryption of several administrative and record management systems, was “90 per cent” resolved.



James Hopkin

About the Author: James Hopkin

James Hopkin is a reporter for SooToday in Sault Ste. Marie
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