Police: No privacy fears over CCTV expansion

The Barbados Police Service insisted that the islandwide expansion of CCTV cameras will not compromise personal privacy, saying the only goal is to enhance public safety amid rising concerns about violent crime.
Police communications and public affairs officer, Inspector Ryan Brathwaite, suggested that concerns about surveillance were misplaced.

He told Barbados TODAY: “No, it’s not extra surveillance. It’s to make our community safe. We want to make Barbados the safest place on earth, and the reality is that those cameras are extra eyes for us. It’s not to keep tabs on any particular person, to spy into people’s personal business or anything of the sort. It’s to make Barbados a better and safer place.”

The police spokesman explained that cameras were already in use at key locations across the country: “There are cameras throughout Barbados, there are cameras in the Pine, there are cameras along all the coastal roads. The reality is that the dynamic of crime has changed, and you need more eyes on the streets, and the cameras now are additional eyes to assist the police in whatever matter, whether it be traffic matters, whether it be crime.”

The intention, he added, was to expand coverage: “The length of Barbados, we would like to install cameras. So it’s not a particular community that’s being targeted in relation to cameras. Wherever you go, cameras are on your face now.”

Inspector Brathwaite also said the technology was being deployed in urban districts that had experienced spikes in violence. Barbados TODAY observed the setting up of CCTV cameras in the Ivy, following a recent spate of slayings.

There have been 30 homicides so far this year, after 49 were recorded last year.

(SZB)