Brandon school buses to be outfitted with surveillance cameras

The Brandon School Division will install interior and exterior surveillance cameras on all 43 of the division's school buses.

On Monday evening, division trustees approved the purchase of41 camerasystems for just under $150,000. Two buses already have the systems installed.

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Each bus will be outfitted with five cameras. Four will capture sound and video from inside the bus, while a fifth will be placed outside to record the licence plates of vehicles that pass the bus when the stop sign and lights are activated to let students on and off, the school division said.

The division says the interior cameras will help monitor behaviour, vandalism and illegal activity aboard buses.

"At times in the past we've had to have educational assistants paid to ride some of our problematic routes," said Brandon school division board chair Kevan Sumner."It was felt that this was more a proactive solution."

"Our school bus drivers have to be focused mainly on their primary task, which is driving the school bus safely," he added.

Money for the camera systems was budgeted last year. It comes after the city of Brandon installed eightcameras on each bus that operates the city's 10 regular transit routes as a measure to deter criminal activity.

Sumnar said he hasn't heard from anyone with privacy concerns about both video and audio being recorded on board buses.

Technology piloted

In a 2010 pilot project, Seven Oaks School Division installed exterior camerason all of its school buses to catch drivers who disobey the stop arm and flashing lights.

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The division recorded 67 infractions in just 16 days.

Teknisult, a Winnipeg company that makes cameras and software for school buses, placed cameras on 10 buses in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta in early 2015 and captured more than 420 violations in four months.

Sumner said drivers in Brandon do respect laws pertaining to school buses, but concerns have arisen about drivers passing buses with the stop arm out.

He said was initially concerned about the cost of the technology, however the proposal the board selected came in under initial projections.