JamaicaEye ‘coming soon’ to Old Harbour

According to ASP Romario Rankin, commander in charge of the St Catherine South Police subdivision of Old Harbour, the authorities are currently in the process of setting up the command centre for the entire police division covering the geography of Portmore, Central Village, Ferry, and Old Harbour. 

“Yes, we should be having them very soon,” ASP Rankin said while speaking on Old Harbour News The Solutions podcast streamed live every Sunday between 4:00 pm and 5:30 pm. 

“They are in the process of setting up the control centre and get it up and running fully… and then you know all the cameras will be installed at the various locations.”

The Hundred Man police station in Portmore will serve as the control centre for the entire police division of St Catherine South. 

JamaicaEye is a public-space, closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance programme run by the Jamaican government, specifically managed by the Ministry of National Security. It is a major component of the country's crime-fighting and national security strategy.

The programme involves installing a network of surveillance cameras across the island at strategic locations such as major town centres and plazas, high-crime or high-traffic areas, critical infrastructure sites, ports and airports.

A core feature is the integration of feeds from cameras owned by both public entities (government, police) and private entities (businesses, homeowners' associations). Private citizens and businesses can voluntarily register their CCTV cameras with the programme. This creates a wider, integrated surveillance network without the government having to install every single camera itself.

The South St Catherine Chamber of Commerce, formerly the Old Harbour Chamber of Commerce, has been very local in lobbying for the expeditious installation of JamaicaEye in Old Harbour. 

At a March 2022 virtual meeting organised by the influential business group, JamaicaEye Project Manager, Emile Holgate says the slow-moving nature of the programme launched in 2018 requires greater corporate involvement to expedite the process to reach towns like Old Harbour. 

“The reality is that it’s by order of priority. It’s a hard concept to appreciate, because the challenge that you are facing in Old Harbour it is unique to you, it is experienced by you, so you it is pressing, overly concerning and needs to be addressed now; and that is fine,” Holgate said at then at the time. “It would be hard for me to convince Cabinet to say let us install 70 cameras in the town of Old Harbour without first saying you need to install 50 more cameras in a space like Montego Bay; because Montego Bay is a place where we have murders happening every day, and that is the reality.”

Like many mass surveillance programmes globally, JamaicaEye has sparked debates.

Concerns about the state's ability to monitor citizens' movements and the potential for a "Big Brother" society, have been mooted, while questions about how the vast amount of video data is stored, who has access to it, and how it is protected from breaches or misuse, are often central to discussions. 

The programme has been rolled out in phases since its announcement. Thousands of cameras (both government and privately registered) are now part of the network. The government frequently cites JamaicaEye as a crucial tool in solving crimes, from murders to traffic violations.

Click here to watch full interview.