Only 17 Prince Albert businesses have registered their security cameras with police. (Susan McNeil/paNOW)

By Susan McNeil

Crime prevention

Mayor, police chief point to camera registry as underused crime fighting tool

Sep 26, 2025 | 9:16 AM

Both Mayor Bill Powalinsky and Chief Patrick Nogier of the Prince Albert Police have talked publicly about an underused tool in the city when it comes to preventing crime and prosecuting offenders.

The police service introduced a camera registry last year that has the simple goal of letting officers know where businesses and homes have security cameras.

Nogier explained that police can’t access the feed or watch footage, all the registry does is let them know a camera is in the area so officers have a potential option for evidence.

“There are certain things out there that we know will have an impact,” Nogier said about ways to reduce crime. “Maybe we haven’t realized the full potential of the camera registry yet, but we know that if we can positively identify where a camera is, what it’s capable of capturing, we know that that’s going to pay dividends in the future because it minimizes the amount of time that we’re out searching for that.”

The registry was first announced last September and has just over 200 cameras registered; 192 are in residential areas and 17 are in businesses.

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Nogier said the ultimate goal is to shorten the investigative time for officers.

“Can we identify where a camera’s located, so we have a potential suspect? If we can quickly assess where those cameras are, how they have their positioning of it and what they’re capable of capturing, that can reduce that lag time immensely,” he explained.

Mayor Bill Powalinsky took to social media recently to address public comments about a perceived lack of civic response to crime.

“There’s a lot of anger out there, and I don’t blame anyone. Let’s look at the situation from a wide perspective,” he said. “As someone pointed out, mayor and council do not control the courts, legislation, and correctional system. We are frustrated, as are the police, with the “catch and release” we see in the legal system.”

The city has also been lobbying higher levels of government for changes to the judicial system.

Powalinsky said they support the efforts the police service have been making to reduce crime.

“Although mayor and council lack the legislative power to tackle the problem at a high level, we are working with the community in supporting the Safer Communities Camera Registry, PA Crimestoppers, and

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com