Toledo requires CCTV in C-stores, small restaurants

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A new ordinance in Toledo, Ohio, requires security cameras in convenience stores and small restaurants, and is not without flaws according to the president of a local security firm.

An ordinance recently passed by city officials in Toledo, Ohio requires convenience store and small restaurant owners to install closed circuit television systems in their businesses.

According to the ordinance, the camera systems are required to:

• Cover the cash register or area where monies are exchanged

• Be maintained to ensure it is working properly and have a light or other signal that indicates the system has been activated

• Produce a "recognizable, color, retrievable, enlargeable, and reproducible photographic images of persons" and that they be of sufficient clarity for identification purposes; remain fixed and not pan in the designated area

• And, the recorded images must be able to be retrieved by the police department's crime lab.

Tapes of recorded images must be maintained for 30 days and business owners are required to be responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the time keeping in conjunction with what has been recorded.

The businesses must also post signage stating that the location is under video surveillance.

"I think it's a flawed system, and I believe it will probably end up with people buying equipment either online or locally and putting it in themselves," said Kim Klewer, owner and president of the Toledo security firm Asset Protection Corporation. "I don't think this is going to be a major boost to any of the area alarm companies."