Attorney suggests CCTV cameras should be mandatory in public spaces

 

Defence attorney Peter Champagnie, KC, is suggesting that the discourse around body-worn cameras include the creation of a legislative framework that mandates closed circuit television (CCTV) installation in key public areas. 

 

Mr. Champagne says this would complement body-worn cameras by the police. 

 

During a discussion on Radio Jamaica's That's a Rap on Sunday, Mr. Champagnie said implementation of CCTV cameras in public spaces would be easier to accomplish due to cost factors, especially if companies and other stakeholders were legally required to install the cameras and were offered tax breaks. 

 

He described this as a "lower hanging fruit" compared with addressing the narrow issue of body-worn cameras. 

 

"Body cameras, yes, but we need to focus largely on the bigger picture. And I say all of that to say - and I challenge any attorney to say otherwise - any case that is before the court that it involves some element of CCTV footage, once it's clear, it does not end in a trial. It ends either in an acquittal in terms of a discontinence of the matter or a guilty plea. It doesn't take up any time, and that is where the focus ought to be," he suggested.

 

Jamaicans for Justice led a protest in Half Way Tree, St. Andrew last Tuesday afternoon, pressing for accountability within the police force. It said the absence of body-worn cameras was a critical issue that continues to undermine transparency, accountability and public trust in law enforcement. 

 

Noting that he supported the protest, social commentator Peter Espeut said he disagreed with the comments that supporters of the protest were anti-police.

 

"Is it Jamaicans for Justice dragging the police's reputation into the dirt or is it police themselves who, by declining to wear the body-worn cameras, are preventing their exoneration where they could easily be exonerated. The argument is that they can't use the body-worn cameras because they don't have the infrastructure to record and archive the footage. But do they have the resource to record and archive the CCTV, JamaicaEye? And if they have that, why don't they have the resources to do the police body-worn cameras? It seems to me that that can't be on accident. There's either incompetence here or malevolence," argued Mr. Espeut. 

 

Mr. Champagnie, while responding to That's a Rap host Earl Moxam, that human rights organisations have always seen their mandate as one of holding the state accountable, said Jamaica should be an exception.

 

"Look at the murder rate, look at the size of our country, and the fact that it is done internationally in terms of a limited mandate, it doesn't necessarily follow that we have to abide by that. The point is, what we need is a JFJ that speaks on issues concerning instances also when there is violence against our children, where communities remain silent in the face of the killing of young children, the plundering and raping of women and all of that. So that is what we need to focus on. I'm not saying no to body-worn cameras. I'm not saying that persons should be concealing themselves. That should not be so. But at the same time, we have to be very careful how we manage the situation and there needs to be some balance in the argument."