Toronto police have installed surveillance cameras in residential neighbourhoods since first trying their eyes-in-the-sky near Yonge-Dundas Square and the entertainment district.
Scarborough's Malvern area is the first residential neighbourhood to get the cameras on a trial basis.
Attached to light poles in the neighbourhood, the cameras are clearly marked and easy to see. The video footage the cameras capture is transmitted back to police.
"People feel more safe with cameras are to see. There's a lot of violence around here," one man told CTV's Alex Mihailovich on Wednesday.
The cameras are part of a six-month police pilot project in the area. In 2006, the provincial government gave the city $2 million to fund the project. Police have been erecting cameras on a temporary basis in various parts of the city to see how effective they are in deterring crime.
Most recently, police said they would try using cameras in the city's entertainment district. It is another area that has been plagued with violent incidents.
The cameras were first used to keep an eye on parts of Yonge Street over the Christmas and New Year season.
Cameras kept a 24-hour vigil above the intersections of Yonge and Dundas, Gould and Gerrard Streets for three weeks.
The cameras did catch a shooting on Yonge Street in late December when a 15-year-old boy was shot in the leg near a music store. Police used the videotapes as part of their investigation.
Last summer, the cameras also kept watch over the annual Caribana parade and activities.
