By Robert Hart, Staff ReporterTHE POLICE Force has taken a step towards the installation of closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV) in commercial centres in the Corporate Area. A building in the vicinity of Harbour Street, downtown Kingston, has been acquired from which the police will monitor the market district.
According to Communications Adviser in the Ministry of National Security, Donovan Nelson, the newly acquired building is expected to be a springboard into the establishment of CCTV-equipped command posts islandwide.
"We're going to do it incrementally," he said, explaining that similar command posts will eventually be set up in locations such as Half-Way Tree, Constant Spring and Cross Roads, before branching out to areas such as Montego Bay and May Pen.
Mr. Nelson said the setting up of the CCTV monitoring systems would be done wherever "a large concentration of commerce" exists. The system, he said, would be set up as a pre-emptive strike against crime.
The newly acquired building, however, has yet to be completely vacated by its previous owners and the Government has yet to identify a technology firm from which to source and have the cameras installed.
"What we have now is a building and a concept," said Mr. Nelson.
Minister of National Security Dr. Peter Phillips first made mention of the Government's intention to use CCTV in public locations when he addressed the nation, in January 2002, on his plan to curb the island's growing crime problem.
