Commish wants JamaicaEye coverage in Westmoreland

WESTERN BUREAU:

Police Commissioner Major General Antony Anderson is not pleased with the slow pace at which the Government is rolling out the JamaicaEye programme, which is expected to become one of the critical tools in the effort to blunt the nation’s rampant lawlessness.

“The JamaicaEye programme is being rolled out too slowly in my mind,” said Anderson, while speaking to stakeholders in Westmoreland about the police’s plan to stem the violence rocking the parish. “I have made representation and I think we have an agreement that we are going to have to speed up that significantly to really make the kind of difference we want.”

JamaicaEye is part of an islandwide network of a camera surveillance system designed to monitor public spaces across the island and assist the authorities in responding to incidents in the event of a natural disaster, acts of criminality or accidents.

Under the JamaicaEye programme, residential and commercial business operators with a closed-circuit television system (CCTV) pointing outside their homes and business places are allowed to help the authorities to secure the public space by registering their cameras with JamaicaEye to share camera feed.

According to Anderson, cameras must be seen as a priority at this time and all efforts should be made to ensure that areas that are frequented by criminals are under proper surveillance.

“We have to look at the process of getting the cameras. Obviously, Westmoreland, particularly Savanna-la-Mar ... the key centres that you have to pass through if you are doing something, or those places where things are likely to happen, is where we will prioritise for cameras,” said Anderson.

Some three months ago, National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang told Parliament that over 850 CCTV cameras have been installed across the main townships of Kingston; May Pen, Clarendon; Mandeville, Manchester; Ocho Rios, St Ann; Negril, Westmoreland; Montego Bay, St James; Spanish Town, St Catherine; and Santa Cruz and Black River, in St Elizabeth.

Anderson said he will be pushing for town centres such as Savanna-la-Mar and Grange Hill to get JamaicaEye coverage as early as possible.

“You will see that coming on board [soon]. We don’t have a specific date as yet, but just be aware that Westmoreland is a priority space for cameras,” he said.

Anderson’s promise comes on the heels of one made recently by Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who told residents in Olympic Gardens, St Andrew, that he will be pushing to get surveillance camera installed in the area as a crime-fighting tool.