More CCTVs for Montego Bay Under JamaicaEye

An additional 300 closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV) will be installed in public spaces in Montego Bay by year end under the National Security Ministry’s JamaicaEye Initiative.

Project Coordinator, Emil Holgate, who made the disclosure at a meeting of the city’s chamber of commerce and industry at the group’s Union Street offices on Wednesday (September 19), said the measure will serve to improve the safety and security of residents.

“That does not mean that we will stop at 300, because we will have more phases as we go along,” he noted.

He informed that 106 cameras have already been installed in Montego Bay, 70 of which are operational.

He said that crime mapping and crime data will be used to determine the locations for the other cameras.

Mr. Holgate informed that JamaicaEye is in phase two, which, in addition to mounting CCTVs, involves “the installation of our support system, which is our fibre network, as well as the other critical areas, such as the monitoring centres, and so forth”.

He noted that once that phase is completed, the final segment will be undertaken “when JamaicaEye will be a fully operational programme where there is active monitoring”.

He said that the mounting of cameras will continue as needed.

Mr. Holgate said JamaicaEye demonstrates the Security Ministry’s drive to use technology as a vehicle to address some of the country’s public-safety challenges and hailed the initiative as a “sure way… to fight against crime and restore public order”.

He encouraged members of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce & Industry to partner on the initiative by signing up to share feed from their private CCTVs.

“It is voluntary… the Government is already installing cameras… but we are still asking for you to help us by donating those feed,” he urged.

JamaicaEye, which was launched on March 14, supports the Ministry’s situational prevention component of its five-pillar crime prevention and reduction strategy, which focuses on forward planning and the use of technology to reduce incidents of crime and their likely occurrence.

The public-private partnership is designed to network CCTV cameras owned by the Ministry as well as accommodate feed from privately owned cameras.

The feed from the cameras provide useful footage in relation to criminal activity and other emergencies and is being monitored by a group of highly trained Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) soldiers at Up Park Camp in St Andrew.

Montego Bay also has a monitoring centre, where police personnel have visibility of CCTV feed for their operational purposes.