THE GOVERNMENT is moving closer to acquiring a closed circuit television (CCTV) system which will be used to better monitor public spaces and criminal activities in major towns and commercial areas.
In an advertisement in The Sunday Gleaner, the Ministry of National Security invited tenders to provide a closed circuit video surveillance system.
The CCTV system is expected to increase the ability of the Jamaica Constabulary to monitor public spaces and detect criminal activities. It will be manned by the police and will start first in Kingston and St. Andrew before going to major towns islandwide.
BUDGETARY ALLOCATION
Government has allocated $10 million in this year's Budget to purchase closed circuit TV cameras. A building was acquired on Harbour Street, downtown Kingston, from which the police will monitor the downtown commercial district.
Similar centres will eventually be set up in Half-way Tree, Constant Spring, New Kingston, and Cross Roads, before branching out to areas such as Montego Bay and May Pen, Donovan Nelson, communications adviser in the Ministry of National Security, told The Gleaner earlier this year.
Dr. Peter Phillips, the National Security Minister, first indicated that the Government planned to use the technology when he outlined his broad crime plans in a television broadcast in January 2002.
He noted then that the introduction of the cameras in crucial public spaces would assist the general surveillance capability of the police.
According to yesterday's advertisement, tender documents must be submitted by 2:59 p.m. on October 1, 2003.
