GOVERNMENT will soon add more closed circuit television cameras (CCTV) across the city as part of its Safe City Project.In an interview with the Government Information Agency (GINA), Project Manager of the Citizen Security Strengthening Programme (CSSP), Clement Henry, said his unit was seeking to collaborate with the E-Governance Unit to realise the Safe City Project, and a recommendation has already been made for storage and connectivity.

Henry explained that the Safe City Project is a surveillance project that is integrated with patrol management. It essentially aims to aid in reducing crime by utilising technology, but is currently in the formulation stages.

“In this phase we’re structuring a way forward,” Henry said, adding that two study tours have been undertaken as part of this phase.

The Crime Chief had, earlier this year, visited Mexico City to observe the operations of that country’s Safe City programme; and Henry was more recently part of a delegation from the Ministry of Telecommunications to visit China as part of a fact finding mission.

“In the way forward, we are looking to set up a unified command centre. The idea is that squad cars will have cameras,” Henry told GINA. This is where the high speed connectivity through the E-Governance Unit will be facilitated.

The proposed command centre will monitor cameras across the city, and coordinate police response to reported crime. Government is seeking to source an additional 300 closed circuit television cameras to aid in crime fighting. The command centre will also handle emergency calls.

Meanwhile, Henry explained that the information gathered from the cameras is expected to be stored in a National Data Centre which the E-Governance Unit is in the process of setting up. The information could be analysed by the police and the Ministry of Public Security’s Crime Observatory to better aid in the fight against crime.

Funding for this project would be facilitated through the CSSP, a five-year programme which has secured US$15M from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and from the Government of Guyana. Back in October last year, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan had told a forum in Toronto, Canada that as part of the administration’s overall fight against rampant gun crimes, 300 television monitors covering cameras on every street in the capital city would be installed.

Ramjattan has acknowledged that the crime situation needs to be taken seriously. He has pointed out that it is obviously a Herculean task, but has vowed that the APNU+AFC coalition government would be the Hercules in surmounting it.

He had also said back in October that a decision would have been made regarding where the command centre would be located. Ramjattan had described the initiative as a huge development, since 66 per cent of the crimes in Guyana are committed in Georgetown.

“We are going to have many cameras all around the city streets, and a command centre that would see what is happening,” Minister Ramjattan had said. According to Ramjattan, the centre will have many mounted television cameras that could be used to trace incidents and link those with ambulances, the Fire Service and police responses.

“On that screen you will actually know where a police car is, and if there is a robbery you will divert immediately the closest patrol vehicle to the scene of the crime; and as well call 911 or the Fire Service,” the minister explained.