Lieutenant Commander George Overton, chairman of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica’s (PSOJ) Standing Committee on National Security and Justice, says the funding to facilitate camera maintenance under JamaicaEye is insufficient and there needs to be a revisit of the budget.

JamaicaEye is an islandwide surveillance system involving closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras that are placed in parishes and major towns across the island, to improve public order and safety.

Speaking on the project during a PSOJ press briefing today (November 30), Overton said it has been performing well, but camera maintenance is an area of concern.

“Electronic equipment deployed in the open environment does require a certain amount of maintenance. Cameras do fail and burn out if there is poor supply. Therefore, we will need for there to be a revisit of the budget to have these cameras maintained in the field,” said Overton.

He noted that cameras, particularly on the western side of the island, need attention due to their environment.

“Cameras in the west are in a high salt spray environment and very frequent cleaning is required. I believe the funding that is being provided for these cameras that are government owned, in the ministry’s department and agencies, are somewhat insufficient,” he stated.

Overton then stressed that some effort is needed to facilitate the required maintenance.

Technical challenges preventing JamaicaEye buildout

JamaicaEye is a private-public partnership that sees the Ministry of National Security partnering with several private sector organisations through a memorandum of understanding (MOU).

An MOU is an agreement made between agencies or organisations to carry out a specific action. Under JamaicaEye, various private sector entities make their cameras available to improve public order and safety.

“The build out of cameras across the country was a force multiplier for the security forces. It gave them eyes in communities that they didn’t have to spend the human resource just observing,” noted Overton.

As such, he said that there is a need to expand the programme and get other private sector entities involved.

“There are significant members of the private sector who are willing, not only to install new cameras for the programme, but [to] make their existing cameras available to the programme,” he stated.

However, Overton said there are technical challenges relating to the MOUs that require focus and negotiations for the expansion to take place.

“Until the technical challenges are overcome, [the buildout] cannot be accommodated, so we need some focus on that element of the work,” Overton stressed.

Future plans for JamaicaEye

The surveillance project was first launched in 2018 and has been instrumental in assisting members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) carry out their investigations.

As the number of partnerships grow, more cameras are being provided, expanding the project’s reach.

“There are some 850 cameras that are government owned and specific to the JamaicaEye programme and another set of cameras, taking it probably to 1,500 cameras combined, between the programme’s own ministry, departments and agencies across the island,” stated Overton.

This year, JamaicaEye focused on the Kingston Metropolitan and St Catherine areas and a new target is being set to have 11 cameras in townships and nine parishes across the island.

“Everything seems to be in place,” he added.

“We understand that the ministry’s human resources to manage this programme has been increased and therefore we should see the maintenance of those timelines.”

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