JamaicaEye: One CCTV at a time
Dear Editor,
Recently, as a result of JamaicaEye — the islandwide network of camera surveillance systems launched in 2018 and designed to increase the safety of all citizens — the motor vehicle of a rebellious taxi operator who mowed down a policeman was pinpointed and later found, enabling the possible swift arrest of said errant and unruly motorist.
The period of time it took to locate the vehicle that was used to commit the gruesome act must be a record.
With the help of social media and initiatives like JamaicaEye we have been able to capture impulsive and unlawful acts and actors have either met their comeuppance or have been called out for reckless behaviour.
In this matter, however, the response time seemed to have only been this prompt, seeing the incident that occurred involved a law enforcement officer. Numerous citizens have been encountering and continue to encounter robbers in said vicinity (and other areas where JamaicaEye is operational) and oftentimes, we hear no end results of these robberies, and they go on as run-of-the-mill.
So, is it that JamaicaEye is only going to be useful for fighting traffic offences, offences involving officers of the law/prioritised cases? And if it is being used to curtail other forms of offences and/or crimes, maybe we need to see these being reported as well?
While I’m in no way against the JamaicaEye project and the potential it has to “monitor public spaces across the island and assist the authorities in responding to an incident, disaster, act of criminality or accident”, according to its mandate, I expect that all will benefit from these closed-circuit televisions (CCTVs) and hope more businesses or entities with CCTVs facing public spaces will sign up for the initiative to help the police rid our country of the scourge of crime, one CCTV at a time.
Richard Palmer
richardpalmerjm@gmail.com