Halifax Regional Council will no longer vote on where to install surveillance cameras in the municipality: that task now falls to HRM staff.

A staff report showed the cameras may not be as effective as people thought.

Two years ago, Chelsie Probert was walking down a path in Farrell Park in Dartmouth when she was killed.

She was stabbed to death in an apparent robbery turned wrong.

After that, Deputy Mayor Tony Mancini asked for surveillance cameras to be installed in the park as a pilot project.

Council heard Tuesday that it won't happen, partly because HRM staff found the cameras don't prevent crimes like Probert's killing.

“If you've had something to drink, or some substances, and you then go on to commit a crime, the evidence shows that those kinds of impulse crimes the CCTV wouldn't act as a very good deterrent,” said HRM safety advisor Amy Siciliano.

Instead, the park has been cleaned up. Lighting and benches have been installed along the path, and the trees were cut back.

Police told council in the last two years, there have been no other reported police incidents in the area.

“If there's anything good that can come out of a terrible tragedy, I think we've learned here, and it's unfortunate that Chelsie had to lose her life for it, but now I think we're better and that will apply to other parts of the municipality,” Mancini said.

There are some cases where cameras may be helpful, but staff say they need to come with other measures too.

“You'd have to have good lighting, you'd have to have dense camera coverage,” Siciliano said. “The potential offender would have to know that the cameras were there for them to act as a deterrent, so you'd have to have signage.”

The decision about placing these cameras is out of council's control now. If and when to install CCTV is now a staff decision

That’s something Mancini supports, even though his initial pilot project will not go forward.

“Now, there's a process to follow, a more in-depth process, based on evidence, based on information, and I think that's a better approach,” Mancini said.

A 17-year-old man was found guilty of manslaughter in January in connection with the death of Chelsie Probert.

If councillors want to inquire about CCTV cameras in other parts of their district, they will have to approach HRM staff as part of an administrative order.

As for Farrell Park, other safety measures like cleaning up the park and adding lighting along the path seem to be working.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Natasha Pace.