January 5,2026
RED FM News Desk
Surrey First councillor and mayoral candidate Linda Annis says the city should give the Surrey Police Service much faster, easier access to its network of 500 traffic cameras to help combat crime — especially the recent wave of extortion cases and related shootings.
Right now, police can only view the footage after filing a formal request with City Hall, a process Annis says takes too long to be useful. She also argues the cameras should be monitored around the clock, ideally with a police officer on the monitoring team, instead of being used mainly to track traffic congestion. She wants the province to help fund even more public-safety cameras.
Annis acknowledges that privacy concerns limit how police can use the cameras, but she says the city needs to be more innovative about public safety. She points to London, U.K., where widespread CCTV coverage is credited with improving security.
She believes giving Surrey police real-time access — while still respecting privacy rules — would make better use of technology and could help stop extortion-related violence. The police currently rely on mobile camera trailers that avoid filming private spaces, but Annis says continuous surveillance with existing cameras would better support officers and the community.
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