Smile, you’re going to be on camera

Facial recognition technology to keep track of known criminals could be on the cards, Police Commissioner Michael DeSilva said yesterday.

And near-blanket CCTV coverage of the island is to be introduced in a bid to crack down on crime — complete with automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) to curb the use of the roads for criminal activity.

Mr DeSilva said cameras were already in use in the city of Hamilton, Barnes Corner and at some locations in Somerset.

He added: “We asked for as many cameras as we could afford in the Budget and spread them across the island, not just in North Hamilton, which is where we started. The idea would be to expand that so all major arteries and junctions, as much as possible, are covered.”

He added that Force would also explore facial recognition technology for the camera network — but said it would be an expensive option.

Mr DeSilva said: “If you say what your future aspiration is, we might not get it today, but it may be something we could afford in the future.”

Mr DeSilva was speaking as he unveiled the annual police policing plan — the second of three plans drawing up a blueprint for the force until 2015.

He said: “The final document represents the shared aims across the community for the police to deliver a high quality of service that is focused on people and aimed at safety.”

Mr DeSilva said that the force would concentrate on five basic aims — bringing dangerous offenders to justice, making neighbourhoods safer, reducing the fear of crime, keeping a “visible, accessible and effective” police presence on the streets and clamping down on road offences.

He added: “Our operational priorities remain the same as the last three years — we are focused on those crimes that are of most concern to the community and that cause the greatest harm: guns, gangs, drugs and violence. Our work this year will not only be aimed at making Bermuda safer, but making Bermuda feel safer as well. 

“In our small community the fear of crime is just as important as the actual crimes themselves.”

Mr DeSilva added that the force would also increase its ability to seize cash and assets from crime kingpins through proceeds of crime legislation.

And an anti-corruption framework for the police — which will include drug testing and extra vetting for officers in sensitive areas like firearms, drugs and intelligence will also be introduced.

Mr DeSilva said that, over the past 10 years, there had been  instances of police corruption and “enough of it to make it a concern”.

But he added: “I don’t know what the world average is, but we don’t think the numbers are much different from any other law enforcement organization. I’m convinced we don’t have the problems some in our society believe. It would be impossible to keep it under wraps for so long.”

And he said: “The international law enforcement community is going more and more to vetted units when they’re dealing with sensitive information.

“This is less about weeding out corruption and more about doing the right thing and I think it’s long overdue.”

Mr DeSilva added that the force would also open a call centre to deal with non-emergency calls in a bid to improve efficiency and make better use of uniformed officers.

He said: “We know what we want it to do — we want it to be a centre where people can call in and speak to a police officer or a police employee and which doesn’t tie up our emergency response team.

“We are tying up a lot of police time on things that don’t really need a police response. This is a filter to check in with the person and see what they need.

“We still want to help the customer — we just want to stop sending precious uniformed resources to every call that comes in. The officers should be out and about where people can see them. Not everything is a 911 emergency and that’s the whole point of prioritisation.”

Mr DeSilva added the force would also forge closer links with schools to “provide joined-up education and prevention initiatives on gang resistance, drug awareness and road safety” in a bid to nip crime in the bud.