New CCTV will be online soon

Progress has been made in implementing a new island-wide CCTV surveillance system, according to the Commissioner of Police.

Michael DeSilva acknowledged there had been an ‘unfortunate slow start’ to the expansion project.

But he revealed that work to restore coverage to the priority areas has been substantially completed.

He said that ‘just a handful of cameras’ were left to install in these areas over the next few days.

Commissioner DeSilva said: “This means that coverage is resuming in the areas of: Friswell’s Hill, St Monica’s Road, Parsons Road, North and South Roundabout, Barnes Corner and Paget Lights, and includes an expansion eastwards at Tee Street and South Road.

“Part of this system restoration includes 15 locations covered throughout the City of Hamilton, with cameras spread across the North, South, East and West quadrants.” Last year BAS/Serco was chosen as the vendor to provide the expansion of CCTV coverage on the island.

The new CCTV system will have the latest technology and equipment, which will allow the Bermuda Police Service to be able to do such analytics as facial and vehicle recognition and tracking and will consist of over one hundred and fifty cameras island wide.

Mr DeSilva told a press conference yesterday: “The service provider has obtained all the required Immigration approvals for their overseas expertise to arrive in Bermuda before the end of the month.

“These technicians will install the communications backbone of the CCTV project, which is essentially a wireless network that will be carried over our local tower infrastructure.

“The “back haul” work, as it is termed, will be finished before the end of May and will allow the final phase of expansion to be completed, which is the installation of an array of 150 cameras island wide.

“While these developments do not represent the full CCTV project, and there is still much work to be done, there is definitely some comfort in returning to a similar level of coverage.”

As a first step, the service provider is restoring service to the priority areas that were covered prior to 1st April. That work is substantially complete, with a handful of cameras left to install over the next few days.

This means that coverage is resuming in the areas of: Friswell’s Hill, St. Monica’s Road, Parsons Road, North and South Roundabout, Barnes Corner and Paget Lights, and includes an expansion eastwards at Tee Street and South Road.

Part of this system restoration includes 15 locations covered throughout the City of Hamilton, with cameras spread across the North, South, East and West quadrants.

The service provider has obtained all the required Immigration approvals for their overseas expertise to arrive in Bermuda before the end of the month. These technicians will install the communications backbone of the CCTV project which is essentially a wireless network that will be carried over our local tower infrastructure.

The “back haul” work, as it is termed, will be finished before the end of May and will allow the final phase of expansion to be completed, which is the installation of an array of 150 cameras island wide.

While these developments do not represent the full CCTV project, and there is still much work to be done, there is definitely some comfort in returning to a similar level of coverage. We will look forward to further expansion of our capacity in the days and weeks ahead.