Caribbean News
JAMAICA: CCTV Surveillance Programme Gets Private Sector Support
#Jamaica, April 17, 2018 – Kingston – The national closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance programme, geared at improving public safety and security, is receiving strong support from members of the private sector, who believe that the initiative will make an impact on crime in the country.
Dubbed ‘Jamaica Eye’, the public-private partnership, launched in March, is designed to network CCTV cameras owned by the Ministry of National Security as well as accommodate feed from privately-owned cameras. The feeds will provide useful footage in relation to criminal activity and other emergencies and will be monitored by a team of security professionals.
President, Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), Howard Mitchell, says the programme is valuable, not only because of the impact it will have on crime, but because it serves as a template to show the importance of participatory democracy. He is commending the Government for undertaking the programme.
“It is important that when we see a strategy or an action that is comprehensively effective and will make an impact that we endorse it and give full praise to its originators and its implementers,” he says.
Mr. Mitchell is encouraging Jamaicans to support the initiative and join the fight against crime. “We will be endorsing it to our members individually and we will be supporting (the Ministry) and all involved in their promotion attempts,” he pledges.
General Manager, Digicel Business, Brian Bennett Easy, says the initiative will assist with crime reduction and the restoration of public order.
“Technology is an enabler to propel proper governance and we believe that the JamaicaEye initiative is the appropriate action at the right time,” he says.
He notes that perpetrators of crime have become more sophisticated in their operations therefore, advanced technology, with the latest detection tools, will give the security apparatus a significant advantage.
“The team at Digicel Jamaica… intends to collaborate with the Government of Jamaica on this and even more diverse technologies that will help to protect Jamaican citizens, detect and respond to crime and to create a safer Jamaica,” he says.
Group Director, Communication and Quality Control, Guardsman Group, Lieutenant Commander, George Overton, points out that in addition to helping to detect and deter crime, the cameras will be effective in investigating accidents and other incidents. He calls for all Jamaicans to buy into the programme. “I call on every citizen association, every industrial park and industrial complex, every commercial activity and almost every neighbourhood watch to commit at least two cameras to this programme across the island,” he says. He further implores stakeholders in the hospitality sector to commit at least four or five cameras to buildout the public space surrounding their properties, so that the law-enforcement agencies and others can do their jobs effectively.
Lt. Commander Overton, who is also President of the Jamaica Society for Industrial Security, is calling on members of the umbrella group of security companies who are involved in the sale, installation and operation of camera equipment to promote the initiative.
“I fully endorse and give my personal as well as organisational support… in the buildout and development of this programme,” he adds. “This programme is a no-brainer,” he says, noting that he has every confidence in the integrity of the system, “because I know that it is a committed staff that has worked to set it up”.
Project Manager, JamaicaEye, Major Sheldon Bryan, informs that approximately 180 cameras have already been deployed across several parishes islandwide.
“When we realised the space that we need to manage where crime is active, we realised that as a Government, we can’t do it alone. We need a lot more cameras to be a part of the system to increase our situational awareness as to what is happening across the space. So, we are inviting, now, persons who have digital camera systems (to partner with us). Once it is connected to the internet, we are able to take that feed right into the environment into the command centre,” he explains.
Major Bryan says that since the launch of the initiative, persons have been signing up for the programme. “The uptake is positive,” he notes. He informs that a technical team will readily assist persons who may need additional information on the initiative.
Citizens and businesses with CCTV systems may register their camera feeds with JamaicaEye via the website, jamaicaeye.gov.jm.
During the registration process, the Ministry of National Security will capture the relevant details to facilitate connection to the participants’ surveillance cameras. Participants will be required to accept an indemnity clause and have their information vetted by the technical team, which will then establish connectivity. An email will be sent to the participant with a screenshot of the established feed to inform them that the feed is being monitored.
Integrated private and public video feeds channelled into JamaicaEye will pass through a video analytic suite and be filtered through software that will allow for facial recognition, licence plate readings, geofencing and crowd counting, among other features. Government-owned CCTV systems have already been installed in several major towns across the island – Kingston, Montego Bay, Mandeville, Ocho Rios, May Pen and Negril.
The JamaicaEye initiative supports the Ministry’s Situational Prevention component of its five-pillar crime-prevention and reduction strategy, which focuses on forward planning and the use of technology to reduce incidents of crime and their likely occurrence.
For further information about the new national CCTV system visit www.jamaicaeye.gov.jm
By: Chris Patterson (JIS)
By Deandrea Hamilton | Magnetic Media
October 14, 2025 – It’s being called political theatre — but for citizens, constitutional watchdogs, and democracy advocates across the Caribbean, it feels far more serious. Within a single week, two national parliaments — in Trinidad and Tobago and St. Kitts and Nevis — descended into turmoil as opposition members stormed out in protest, accusing their Speakers of bias, overreach, and abuse of parliamentary procedure.
For observers, the walkouts signal a deeper problem: erosion of trust in the very institutions meant to safeguard democracy. When Speakers are viewed as political enforcers instead of neutral referees, parliaments stop functioning as chambers of debate and start performing as stages for power and spectacle — with citizens left wondering who, if anyone, is still accountable.
October 6: St. Kitts Parliament Erupts
The first walkout erupted in Basseterre on October 6, 2025, when Dr. Timothy Harris, former Prime Minister and now Opposition Leader,
led his team out of the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly in a protest that stunned the chamber.
The flashpoint came as the Speaker moved to approve more than three years’ worth of unratified parliamentary minutes in one sitting — covering 27 meetings and three national budgets — without individual review or debate.
Dr. Harris called the move “a flagrant breach of the Constitution and parliamentary tradition,” warning that the practice undermines transparency and accountability. “No serious parliament can go years without approving a single set of minutes,” he said after exiting the chamber.
The Speaker defended the decision as administrative housekeeping, but critics were unconvinced, branding the move a “world record disgrace.” The opposition’s walkout triggered renewed calls for the Speaker’s resignation and sparked a wider public discussion about record-keeping, accountability, and respect for parliamentary norms in St. Kitts and Nevis.
October 10: Trinidad Opposition Follows Suit
Four days later, on October 10, 2025, the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) in Trinidad and Tobago staged its own walkout from the House of Representatives in Port of Spain.
The UNC accused the Speaker of partisan bias, claiming she had repeatedly blocked urgent questions, ignored points of order, and allowed government members to breach standing orders without consequence.
“The Speaker has failed in her duty to act impartially,” the Opposition declared in a statement. “Parliament is not the property of any political party or Presiding Officer.”
The dramatic exit was seen as a culmination of months of rising tension and frustration, with opposition MPs arguing that parliamentary rules were being selectively applied to silence dissenting voices.
Political analyst Dr. Marcia Ferdinand described the twin walkouts as “a warning sign that parliamentary democracy in the Caribbean is teetering on the edge of performative politics.”
“When chairs become political shields rather than constitutional referees,” she said, “democracy becomes theatre, not governance.”
A Pattern Emerging
While St. Kitts and Trinidad are very different political environments, both incidents point to the same regional fault line: the perception that Speakers — the guardians of parliamentary order — are no longer impartial.
In Westminster-style systems like those across the Caribbean, the Speaker’s authority depends not on power but on public confidence in fairness. Once that credibility erodes, parliamentary control collapses into confrontation.
Governance experts say the implications are serious: eroded trust between government and opposition, declining public confidence in state institutions, and growing voter cynicism that “rules” are flexible tools of political advantage.
Why It Matters
Parliamentary walkouts are not new in the Caribbean, but what makes these recent events different is their frequency and intensity — and
the regional echo they’ve created. Social media has amplified images of lawmakers storming out, with citizens from Barbados to Belize questioning whether the same erosion of decorum could be happening in their own legislatures.
Analysts warn that if this perception takes hold, it risks diminishing the moral authority of parliamentary democracy itself.
“Once opposition MPs believe the rules are rigged, and once citizens believe Parliament is just performance,” said one Caribbean governance researcher, “you’ve lost the most valuable currency in democracy — trust.”
Restoring Balance
Political reformers across the region are calling for tighter Standing Order enforcement, independent parliamentary service commissions, and training to strengthen Speaker neutrality. Civil society leaders say the public must also play its part by demanding transparency and refusing to normalize partisan manipulation of parliamentary procedure.
Whether these twin walkouts become catalysts for reform — or simply another episode of Caribbean political theatre — will depend on what happens next inside those chambers.
For now, democracy watchers agree on one thing: when opposition leaders feel the only way to be heard is to walk out, the entire democratic house — not just its Speaker — is in danger of collapse.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
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