Tyrone Reid, Staff Reporter
AFTER FAILING to fulfil its pledge of setting up closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras islandwide by September 2004, the Government is now refusing to say when the project would progress from its pilot phase.
"We are not going to give projections ...," said Donovan Nelson, communications adviser in the Ministry of National Security.
While admitting that the project, which was supposed to boost the nation's crime-fighting capabilities, was behind schedule, no reason for the lateness of the project was forthcoming.
The first set of cameras was installed in February 2004 with a pledge by Dr. Peter Phillips, Minister of National Security, that they would be installed islandwide, and a National Operations Centre for monitoring the input from the CCTV system would have been established no later than September last year.
BUILDING NOT READY
Mr. Nelson admitted that the building in the vicinity of Harbour Street, downtown Kingston, which the Government acquired in 2003 to be the command post, is still not fully operational.
"That is also in pilot (phase). The unit is not a hundred per cent outfitted but pilot cameras are being fed to that location," he said.
Despite the extended delay, Mr. Nelson insisted the project has a certain priority profile and that the ministry is determined to implement it as soon as possible.
As it now stands, the Government is in the process of changing aspects of the system's design "to ensure a more affordable and cost-efficient roll-out, not only in downtown Kingston but also to the other areas under consideration," which include New Kingston, Half-Way Tree, Spanish Town, May Pen, Mandeville and Montego Bay.
Earlier this year, Derrick Smith, Opposition spokesman on national security, told The Gleaner that the project was in limbo because the Government was broke.
