ABSTRACT
In February 2010, Canada hosted the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC. With a budget of CAN$900 million and involving 5,700 police officers, 4,000 members of the armed forces and 4,800 private security personnel, authorities and critics alike described this event as the largest security operation in Canada’s history. Surveillance cameras were an integral part of these efforts. Public authorities used nearly 1,000 surveillance cameras to monitor event venues and perimeters, two outdoor ‘live sites’, major transportation hubs and corridors, and various other locations around Vancouver during the course of the Games. In what has become a recurring pattern for the host cities of the Olympic Games and other major events, some of these cameras were retained for post-event use. As such, the Vancouver Games are a recent example of the role of major events in driving the proliferation of surveillance cameras in urban space.
