Kevin Allerston
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 10/05) - The Yellowknife Day Care may install video cameras to deter late-night intruders.

The proposed move is in response to more than a half-dozen overnight break-ins since January.

Ashley Walker of Chic Chik shows where the stairs were removed from the back of her building. At night, the doors are barred with planks to add an extra measure of protection.

It's as much about figuring out how the intruders are entering as it is about nabbing them.

"I've been driving myself crazy trying to figure out how they are getting in here," said executive director Linda Benedict. "Because we don't know how they are getting in, we want to have some kind of surveillance inside and out in the yard."

She has her own theories about who has been behind the stunts.

"I believe it to be kids with nothing better to do," she said. "They get into the building and the first few times they did damage. Now it just appears to be a matter of 'look at me, I got in, I dumped your office on the floor' and off they go again."

Thieves

Whoever is behind the crimes has also made off with such things as digital cameras, walkie talkies and fundraising money as well as occasionally breaking windows.

Benedict said she no longer keeps cash on site.

If the facility was to get cameras, they wouldn't come cheap. According to Wes Hinchey, manager of Arctic alarms, the centre would be looking at paying more than $500 a camera.

As well, while he understands the desire for such a system, he warns they may act as an expensive target to whoever is breaking in.

"Putting in camera systems comes with its own set of problems too. If you put the cameras in, you have to have something to record the video onto," he said. "If that system isn't well secured, then it becomes a target for those who are behind the break-in. Suddenly a $2,000 piece of equipment has been smashed or stolen."

Benedict said the kids at the centre are safe since the activity happens after everybody is gone and aren't being told about the break-ins because she doesn't want to scare them.

Other businesses

The daycare is not the only place downtown that has to deal with unwanted guests.

Ashley Walker has been managing Chic Chik for three years and during the last two years the 50th St. store has had to deal with two break-ins.

That's not to mention the vandalism and the drug-related activity in the back alley, she said.

The store has cameras inside, which may have helped RCMP to nab the culprits both times.

There has been talk of getting motion detectors outside to deter people from hanging around. She said the steps were removed that led into the alleyway in February because people would sit there and drink.

Board up the windows

Like many businesses on the strip, the staff boards up the windows when closed and bars the door at night.

"Every morning in the summer when I'd come to work there would be people back there on the steps," Walker said.

She said she thinks the daycare should install cameras, but isn't sure how effective they would be at keeping people from causing trouble in Yellowknife's downtown.