Transportation security

Transit systems have their eyes on you — but surveillance footage isn't always there when it counts

Security cameras are ubiquitous on public transit across the country, but when it comes to using them to investigate sexual harassment or assault, what they record is often gone before it can be used.

While victims might take weeks or even months to report an incident, surveillance footage can be erased in a matter of days.

In Canada's largest city, Toronto, security camera footage from streetcars, buses, subway trains and stations is kept for three days.

It was the report of an alleged assault on a city bus that prompted Toronto's transit agency to extend the amount of time that it holds on to footage a year ago. At the time, footage from streetcars and buses was held for only 15 hours, but after a teenage girl went to police to report an assault a few days after it allegedly happened and found there was no video evidence available, the Toronto Transit Commission extended that to 72 across its whole system.