Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security, the Hon. Dr. Horace Chang says the commissioning of the downtown Kingston JamaicaEye Monitoring Centre, is a major upgrade to the national closed circuit television programme.
Delivering the main address at the Denham Town Police Station, where the commissioning event was held on Thursday (June 5), the security minister described the milestone as a “strategic move to increase visibility in areas that have faced chronic challenges with crime, gang activity, and public disorder”.
Minister Chang emphasised that acquiring technological tools for the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) is not an inexpensive endeavour, while noting the undertaking was something the “government cannot afford not to afford”.
He mentioned that there was a need to have the appropriate technology in place to bring the JCF st into the 21 Century in an intentional way to enable good public order, public safety and reduce violence island wide.
The Project represents an investment of approximately J$300 million under the JamaicaEye programme, which continues to expand its footprint in both urban and rural communities across the country.
In total there are nine monitoring centres in operation across the various town centres, with plans for several others. The downtown Kingston Monitoring Centre is the latest commissioned into service, following the Olympic Gardens Centre in May of this year.
“This is part of the wider sustained investments to modernize how we approach law-enforcement, crime prevention and public safety across Jamaica,” Minister Chang said.
The security minister further said that “prevention is what we desire but enforcement we will effect through the police. We are confident as we improve our efficiency in law enforcement and that prevention will increase”.
He emphasised that through the JamaicaEye buildout and other initiatives, the Ministry of National Security is providing the members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force with the tools to get the job done.
The National CCTV Masterplan requires an additional 2,500 CCTV cameras to be installed over a three-year period.
“It’s a very effective means of strengthening the hand of the police and ensuring that we can in fact deal with those who are criminally inclined,” the security minister said.
The latest JamaicaEye buildout amounts to 285 high-definition CCTV cameras now fully installed and operational across Denham Town, Waltham and the busy downtown business district.
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