Five Hundred More Cameras Procured Under JamaicaEye

Senior Director for Modernisation and Strategic Projects in the Ministry of National Security, Arvel Grant, says that an additional 500 cameras have been procured under JamaicaEye, which will be installed over the coming months.

A total of 400 cameras have been mounted in public spaces across the island, to date, under the national closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance programme.

“By early next year, we expect to be at 1,000 cameras installed and fully integrated into the system across the island,” Mr. Grant said.

“We have the early stages of the system running. Now we are moving into the larger-scale implementation, which would mean more cameras,” he added.

Mr. Grant was speaking at the Rotary Club of St. Andrew North’s weekly meeting held at the Altamont Court Hotel in New Kingston on Monday (October 8).

JamaicaEye, which was launched in March, is a public-private partnership designed to network CCTV cameras owned by the Ministry as well as accommodate feed from privately owned cameras.

The feeds will provide useful footage in relation to criminal activities and other emergencies and will be monitored by a team of security professionals.

With more than 200 registered partners already signed on to the system, Mr. Grant said the collaboration will secure many more cameras for the programme.

“We are having discussions with some business associations that have hundreds and thousands of cameras. Although we have 200 registered partners, that actually translates to more than 200 cameras. We are working internally on how and at what pace we implement these across the government system,” he informed.

He indicated that memoranda of understanding (MOU) will be established in the coming year to integrate more cameras into the system.

Mr. Grant noted that the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch (PSTEB), which has also been using CCTV footage to assist with resource management, will also feed into JamaicaEye.

“There are a lot of opportunities that we are looking for to start integrating and realising those benefits from the system,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Grant said the public response to JamaicaEye has been overwhelming.

“Every week we have a number of community and business group engagements. They want to know how the programme works. They want to get camera specifications,” he noted.

“We have been meeting with security companies, as well, and they are feeding the questions that their clients have to us… . We have a lot of support for the programme, and it is going well so far,” he added.