Surveillance to expand island wide

Video surveillance utilized by law enforcement is being expanded across the island.

Police Commissioner Michael DeSilva said earlier this week that a vendor has been selected through a bidding process and work installing cameras and recording equipment should be completed by April 1. That’s the date when the system is supposed to “go live” and the cameras will be activated.

There will be a “series of cameras, right across the island, from St. George’s to Dockyard.”

Bermuda is joining other jurisdictions where video police surveillance or CCTV (closed circuit television) is expanding.

In New York City, for instance, the police department has a system linking 3,000 cameras with various terrorist and criminal databases, according to The New York Times. That paper also reports that in Oakland, California, $7 million worth of federal grants is being used for surveillance-based operations.

The United Kingdom, meanwhile, has been dubbed a “surveillance state” by some for the prevalence of CCTV. According to The Telegraph, the U.K. has 5.9 million closed circuit televisions in that country, which works out to one for every 11 people in the U.K.