by PATRICK LEJTENYI

A month after the pilot project's final report, the controversial Robocam initiative looks likely to come back in 2005, bigger and more intrusive than ever. Since May 2004, four discreetly placed cameras have hovered above the bustling Latin Quarter, including around the de Maisonneuve-St-Denis intersection, where low-end drug dealers are known to spend time. The cameras are still there, but haven't been functioning since August, awaiting the next festival season.

"Elected officials, merchants and residents want the project to improve, expand and continue," says Ville-Marie city councillor Robert Laramée. "We'd like to see an expanded perimeter and someone manning the cameras permanently." He says the response has been generally positive and that it has, in fact, improved the quality of life in the tourist-heavy area. "Everyone noticed a reduction in the number of problems around there," he says.

The report polled 18 Latin Quarter merchants about the project. Some mentioned that they did see a decrease in drug dealing in and around their establishments, but that was also due to the fact that it was summer. Autumn and winter see more dealing indoors, especially when students from nearby UQÀM are back in school. Of the 18 merchants polled, 17 said they approved the measure. Only one was indifferent. As for the police, in a statement last month they pointed to sharp drops in criminal behaviour over the 2004 festival season. So far, however, they don't have a specific plan to bring the cameras back to life this summer.

Others are less than thrilled about the project. The Ligue des droits et libertés, a Montreal-based human rights group, has opposed the project from the beginning. Dominique Peschard, one of the Ligue's vice-presidents, says the cameras are far too invasive and that the problem doesn't merit the potential consequences of constant surveillance.

"I didn't find the final report very conclusive, but that's not really the issue," he says. He points out that in London, England, with its extensive CCTV system, an individual can be caught on camera up to 200 times a day, but the crime rate remains very high. "Down the road, the concept of fighting crime or terrorism by watching the entire population can become widely accepted, and that's a very dangerous idea. You can get a feeling of security but people are just more discreet. They'll just shift their activity elsewhere. And in response, this type of project can just grow and grow and grow."

Which would suit Laramée and the Latin Quarter merchants just fine. They want the project to expand from Ste-Catherine to Sherbrooke and to neighbouring streets. "I could get into a philosophical discussion about this with the Ligue, but we need a practical solution to a practical problem," the city councillor says.

Ghislain Dufour, the executive director of the Société de développement du boulevard St-Laurent, an association of Main merchants, says the topic will be discussed at a meeting next month, but adds that he thinks the age-old method of having cops on the beat is the best way to deter crime.