‘Tight’ port security impresses minister

One of the men tasked with bringing Barbados’ crime situation under control is “beyond confident” about the security measures at the Bridgetown Port.

Following a tour of the facility this morning, Minister of State in the Office of the Attorney General with responsibility for Crime Prevention, Corey Lane said he was in awe at the high level of security in place at the island’s main seaport.

“I am very impressed with the level of security we have right around. I think there has been a major, major difference between what we hear on the street, what we hear sometimes on the airwaves and what I have seen here.

“I am very happy to see that we have 100 per cent scanning, we have air coverage of the port and beyond, we have underwater coverage. I think that anybody thinking about doing crime has to think twice when they think about Barbados,” Lane said.

“…I came here today and saw over 500 cameras in the Port, and not only cameras, but cameras out of a ‘sci-fi’ movie that can do mass detection, colour detection, heat detection, motion detection, face recognition, AI. The story of the port and the story of Customs has to be told…and I am beyond confident and very, very impressed.”

Lane, who was accompanied by Comptroller of Customs Owen Holder, his permanent secretary Anthony Wiltshire and Divisional Manager, Innovation and Corporate Services at the Bridgetown Port, Captain Karl Branch, said he was equally pleased to know that the security system was built in-house at a fraction of the cost of other systems.

“Over the last three years they have really built in-house technology to be able to monitor the 100 per cent scanning of the containers, of the barrels, of the boxes, of people, of vehicles coming in and going out of the port.

“Is it perfect? I would say almost. We are so close and there are even a number of territories across the world asking how we were able to have such a technologically-advanced port at such a reasonable cost,” Lane pointed out.

Additionally, the minister said it was not widely known that the Bridgetown Port was rated among the best in the world. The facility’s accomplishments needed to be made public, he added.

“I want Barbadians to be reassured that over the last three years that we have really transitioned this port to be one of the number one ports in the world and I don’t say so glibly and I don’t say so lightly.

“A lot of people may not know that we in Barbados chair the technical committee for the OAS (Organisation of American States) and not only do we chair it, it is chaired by elections so it is not even a case of just saying let us rotate. And not only do we chair it through elections but we’ve been asked to chair it again. The point I’m trying to make is that these particular things need to be known in the public,” Lane said.

randybennett@barbadostoday.bb