Lorna Cameron (left) of Cameron Industries and Joinery Limited delivers her pledge of $50,000 to Winston Lawson (right), president of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, while Governor General Sir Patrick Allen and Lois Robinson, member of the chamber, look on. The monies pledged will go towards completing payment on the security cameras installed in Mandeville.

The Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras recently installed in Mandeville, courtesy of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, have enabled the police to significantly reduce crime in the parish.

Deputy Superintendent Gosford Cole of the Manchester Police Division told guests at last Saturday's Evening of Elegance that the cameras have served to help the police to strategically respond to potential lawbreaking. "It would take about 50 police officers to accomplish what one sitting at a desk can accomplish by just clicking the mouse," he said.

"We have seen order in different areas; the pickpockets have moved out of town, and trade in illegal drugs has been reduced in Mandeville, due to the arrest and conviction of some offenders," he explained.

CCTV was launched in July by Minister of National Security Dwight Nelson.

Reduce crime

The Manchester Chamber of Commerce, in collaboration with the Jamaica Constabulary Force, Ministry of National Security, the the Manchester Parish Council and others embarked on a drive to reduce crime in the parish in 2007, known as the Closed to Crime Initiative.

At the event held at the Mandeville Hotel, guests filled out pledge forms and up to yesterday the Chamber had collected $92,500 of the pledges for the cameras.

Among guests at the event who made pledges were Andrew Neil, Trisha Thompson, Barbara Ellington, Cameron Industries, Cara Richards, Christopher and Erica Grant, Clive Williams, Digicel, Dr Clifton Reid, DSP Gosford Cole, Global Travel Service, Guardian Asset Management, Ingrid Cunningham, Kaysi-Ann Spence, Mr and Mrs B. E. Pottinger, Mr and Mrs David Fyffe, Mr And Mrs Earl Pottinger, Mr and Mrs Elroy Ricketts, Mr and Mrs George Bird, Mr and Mrs Warburton, Danny Roumel, Earl Briscoe, Heron Bryson, Lloyd Black, Yolande Mitchell, Fay Alveranga, Pauline Dawkins, Sally Porteous, Vincent Young, Young's Supermarket.

The Pan Caribbean crew are out in full force (from left), Anastacia Gayle, Brenda Francis, Vanessa Williams, Conroy Rose, Katrine Neil and Loven McCook, in support of Manchester Chamber of Commerce's Evening of Elegance at Mandeville Hotel on Saturday night. - photos by Milton Williams