THE many Closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed around the city have aided the police in identifying a number of reckless drivers, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan has said. He said too that the cameras have also helped with the prosecution of most of the drivers. CCTV is a TV system in which signals are not publicly distributed, but are monitored, primarily for surveillance and security purposes. It relies on strategic placement of cameras, and observation of the camera’s input on monitors somewhere.
Ramjattan made the comments after receiving Forensic Video Analysis Equipment and Software packages under the Justice Education Society from the Canadian Government yesterday. He received the donation in the boardroom of the Ministry of Public Security. Brickdam, Stabroek.
“Cameras in and around the city caught drivers jumping red lights, driving fast, driving dangerously and recklessly; what we do with these equipment’ is to get the video and send it to drivers. What has been happening in our court system is the minute you charge a driver, he pleads not guilty, but when the videos are sent to them they all plead guilty,” he disclosed.
This, he said, has eased the backlog of cases at the Magistrate Courts since many plead guilty instead of wasting the court’s time when a DVD is sent to them showing what had occurred. The Security Minister said the guilty pleas rose to its maximum while drivers are wasting no time in pleading guilty and paying their required fines. He explained that this is a major benefit of the CCTV’s cameras.
In its recent report on the traffic situation here, the Guyana Police Force disclosed that there were almost 400 offences of drivers caught violating the traffic signals or breaking the traffic laws.The police then located the vehicle and if possible the person in the CCTV footage and replay the violation. While most of the drivers would own up to their crimes, the police said that there are some drivers who would deny being the driver at that time—if this is the case, then contact will be made with the owner of the vehicle and the police will then try to locate the driver. This newspaper was told that the cameras are being monitored by the police on a daily basis at Police Headquarters, Eve Leary. “We have a special task force set up to deal with CCTV at Traffic headquarters. We get a disc with the footage here and when we locate the drivers, we bring them and play the footage for them,” one senior traffic officer noted. He said that the CCTV has been very helpful to the Traffic Department.