Mixed feelings as Abby house loses video surveillance
Police have removed security cameras monitoring the Bacon family residence in Abbotsford and neighbours are breathing a sigh of relief.
Technicians pulled down the equipment Thursday and Abbotsford police have also suspended, for the time being, 24 hour a day patrols monitoring the home.
The cameras were installed 18 months ago to record the actions of Jonathan, Jarrod and Jamie Bacon after authorities linked the brothers to a deadly turf war involving the Red Scorpions gang. Public assassination attempts on Jamie in 2007 and 2009 - the first incident outside the family home - also prompted police to install cameras in the name of public safety.
APD spokesperson Const. Ian MacDonald said the decision to pull the cameras on Thursday came after consultations between major crime detectives, intelligence officers and area residents.
"From the standpoint of public safety, and an ability for that neighbourhood to return to normalcy, it just made sense," he said.
One neighbour, who did not want to be identified, said he has mixed feelings.
"It was a safety thing, but on the other hand, real estate on the street - it's terrible," he said.
Residents of the street have found it next to impossible to sell their homes, and those who have, he said, had to settle for vastly reduced rates.
"People want to get away from it, it's the past, even though the [Bacon] parents still live there."
The house still receives visits from Jonathan, he said, who has ongoing criminal court proceedings related to a myriad of drug and gun charges, (Jarrod is in custody on several criminal charges and Jamie is in a Surrey pretrial centre facing first-degree murder charges for his alleged involvement in the Surrey Six slayings), but the street has a decidedly different feel now.
"The kids are playing outside again . . . it's getting back to normal. But still, in the back of your mind, it's not over," he said.
MacDonald said police still have concern for the area, but from a public safety standpoint, things have settled down, for now.
"If there comes a time, where again, it looks like public safety is in jeopardy, that may warrant us re-installing the cameras," he said Monday.
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