Premier and Minister of Finance, Dr. the Honourable D. Orlando Smith, OBE has signed a contract with Consultant, Mr. Russell Jones for the installation of CCTV cameras Territory-wide in the amount of one hundred and forty thousand dollars ($140,000).

Premier Smith said Government is committed to improving security across the Territory and preliminary works has been done by the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force to determine key areas for setting up CCTV cameras in addition to those that were destroyed or lost from the hurricanes.

The Premier said, “It is our vision that that these new infrastructure and installations should be designed to be resilient, scalable and efficient to adapt to the ever-increasing need of expansion of the CCTV network.”

The new CCTV infrastructure will be constructed while keeping in mind the vulnerabilities of the Territory to prevent future loss of significant infrastructure.

The objective of this assignment is to develop the technical specifications and undertake procurement and contract administration for the acquisition of CCTV infrastructure network. Implementation and administration services will also be developed to guarantee a CCTV Surveillance System that adequately meets the functional requirements of the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF).

The surveillance system will be installed according to international standards in areas such as expansion, security and also be able to reasonably withstand the impact of natural hazards that affect the British Virgin Islands.

The improved CCTV system is expected to increase public safety by effectively monitoring human activity in the Territory and exercise crowd control.

The operation of the system is expected to reduce the fear of crime, the upsurge in criminal activities, entry of wanted criminals into the Territory, traffic violations and burglaries; deterring the commission of a crime and aiding the investigation conducted by the police in the event that a crime is committed and for bringing perpetrators to justice.

The Government of the Virgin Islands remains committed the rebuilding the BVI stronger, smarter, greener, better.