Police: New CCTV tech will enhance capability

Acting Commissioner Mike Jackman - Good morning and thank you for coming. With me is Ian Cook, Chief Operating Officer at BAS Group, Nick Brown, Senior Accounts Manager at CCS Group and George Mensah our Facilities Manager and project lead. 

You will be aware that on September 26^th 2013, Minister Dunkley gave a press conference announcing that BAS/Serco was the selected vendor to provide the expansion of CCTV. 

Work has been ongoing since then between BAS/Serco and the Bermuda Police Service to ensure there is a transition between the CCTV services provided by the current vendor and the services that will be provided by BAS/Serco with effect from April 1^st 2014.

The transition will commence with the replacement of obsolete and defective cameras at the current locations and will expand to island wide coverage as the old cameras are replaced.

The new CCTV system will have the latest technology and equipment and 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.

We eventually expect to link the system with cameras being used in the City of Hamilton, the Town of St George’s and at Dockyard.

The use of CCTV cameras both as a deterrent to those who would commit crimes and as an investigative tool after a crime has been committed have been very effective in the past and we will have enhanced capability with the additional cameras and technology.

The Bermuda Police Service wishes to thank G.E.T. Ltd. for their support and service; they stepped to the wicket at a time when Bermuda faced its most serious challenge from gun violence and was able to show good community spirit by working with the Bermuda Police Service and being willing to go the extra mile when asked.

I would like to reiterate the comments of Minister Dunkley that the CCTV expansion is a crime-fighting tool, not a ‘Big Brother’ intrusion into the lives of law-abiding people.

We look forward to working closely with BAS/Serco for the next five years.