Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to provide this honourable house with an update on the Island wide CCTV project.
Mr. Speaker, you will recall that in the 2021 speech from the Throne this Government committed to advance a new island-wide CCTV system, to include newer features to assist the police in tackling road traffic offences and violent crime.
Mr. Speaker, we are delivering on that promise. I can advise that after an open procurement process, a contract will shortly be awarded to a local company for the new island-wide CCTV system. Some thirteen companies bid on the contract; eleven local and two overseas companies. At this stage, I will not provide the name of the successful local company as all the vendors who bid on the project are currently being notified including the successful company.
Mr. Speaker, the contract will include not only the new island-wide CCTV system but a managed maintenance service contract to ensure its performance and reliability. The new system will also provide for scalability to enable future upgrades and additional capability.
Mr. Speaker, there are currently 150 CCTV cameras across the Island of which 75 are inoperable.
Mr. Speaker, the new CCTV system will provide 265 CCTV cameras across the Island at a higher resolution with more reliable connectivity. This will significantly expand coverage.
Mr. Speaker, the new camera’s resolution will provide an increased ability to identify people. The software will significantly reduce the amount of time it takes to search footage for individuals and vehicles and provide better outcomes for law enforcement.
Mr. Speaker, the new system will include an evidence management capability that will simplify, standardize and reduce the cost of video evidence across the Bermuda Police Service. The video management software will open up the possibility to integrate with both private and commercial CCTV systems across the Island to increase coverage even further.
Mr. Speaker, the system will be vendor agnostic which means that it can be integrated with other systems such as video analytics, gunshot detection and computer aided dispatch.
Mr. Speaker, this will result in increased safety for our community. CCTV aids in the identification of suspects in the event of criminal activity and deters others from becoming involved in criminal activity.
Mr. Speaker, after the contract is signed with the successful vendor, I will provide more details to this honourable house on the contract including the name of the successful company, cost and the schedule for the upgrades.
Mr. Speaker, this project is part of our commitment at the Ministry of National Security to meet our mission of “Working together to keep you safe”.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.