Mayoral candidate Rob Ford told t.o.night newspaper that he endorses the use of closed circuit cameras as a way to deter crime.

Super idea. I suppose the city could just re-use those G20 CCTVs to avoid wasteful City Hall spending! Am I catching on, Rob?

"As mayor I'm going to take a no-nonsense approach to people that want to come in the city and cause problems. Or live in the city and cause problems. If we can't catch them through the police, we'll catch them on camera," Ford said.

Although Dr. David Murakami Wood, Canada Research Chair in Surveillance Studies at Queen's University, said the idea that CCTVs deter crimes is "completely not true."

"The effectiveness of cameras is based on this idea that people think and can calculate what they're about to do and the consequences of what they're going to do," Murakami Wood said. "And many of these crimes don't relate to that kind of way of thinking at all."

George Smitherman has also said he would like to see more CCTV cameras downtown, but mostly just to ensure bike lanes stay clear.