TORONTO — The Ontario government is investing $2 million to expand the coverage of closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems across the province, an essential tool in detecting criminal activity and keeping communities safe.

Funding through the Ontario CCTV Grant will help police and their municipal partners purchase CCTV equipment in 2021-2022 in areas with high rates of criminal activity including gun and gang violence. “Robust CCTV surveillance systems are an essential tool to help combat gun and gang violence and keep our communities safe. That is why it is important that we continue to help police services and their municipal partners expand surveillance capacity across the province,” said Sylvia Jones (in the pic, from her Twitter profile), Solicitor General. “This investment will provide our policing partners with the technology they need to detect criminal activity and ramp up the fight against crime.”

The CCTV Grant program, announced in August 2020, is providing police services with a total of $6 million over three years to expand CCTV systems in their communities and improve public safety. All municipal and First Nations police services, as well as the Ontario Provincial Police, can apply for funding for the second year of program.

The CCTV Grant brings the province’s investment to combat gun and gang violence through the Ontario Guns, Gangs and Violence Reduction Strategy and with the support of the federal government to $112 million. It also complements the approximately $17 million invested to date through the provincial priorities funding stream of the Community Safety and Policing Grant, which addresses provincewide issues that include gun and gang violence, sexual violence and harassment, and human trafficking.