PLP Call For CCTV Coverage Of School Grounds

January 4, 2016

“The recent rise in crime and violence targeted at our schools is a cause for major concern and should move the government to ensure that CCTV coverage is extended to the properties of our public schools,” said a joint statement from Shadow Minister of Education and Training Lovitta Foggo and Shadow Minister of Home Affairs Walter Roban.

“Following the break-in, vandalism and bomb scare at Whitney Institute in June of this year, and the more recent attempted damage to the Purvis Primary School on December 20th, 2015, we again appeal for the government to consider, at the least, cameras limited to the exterior of the physical buildings surveying areas that are most vulnerable to entry by prowlers or vandals.

The CCTV monitoring centre in Prospect:

Bermuda-CCTV-monitoring generic

“Over six million dollars of investment has been made by the taxpayer into this system to fight crime and provide safety and security for all of Bermuda’s residents. It is important that it be used to the highest potential possible.

“The Ministry of National Security should partner with the Ministry of Education to do a full security review of all public school properties, determining the best way to utilize the island wide CCTV to provide 24 hour coverage of at least the perimeter of all public schools grounds.

“This will certainly assist in providing value-for-money security coverage of these important government assets, and provide greater safety for our children, teachers, personnel and property.”

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Category: All, Crime, News

Comments (23)

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  1. Build a Better Bermuda says:

    I would call on the PLP to return the millions of dollars that are missing under their administration/interference so that we can afford to install these cameras in the schools and provide additional scholarships and grants for education

    • Onion Juice says:

      I wonder if the Private schools have CCTV?
      Mmmmm

      • serengeti says:

        Don’t know. If they do, it wasn’t paid for by taxpayers. MMmmmmm.

        • Onion Juice says:

          Well if you know Bermuda’s History, ALL Private schools were once funded by Government before they went Private, so the public funded these schools and where not allowed on the property, did the taxpayers get refunded?
          Mmmmm

          • serengeti says:

            The CCTV, if they have it, was not funded by the taxpayers. Mmmmmmmmmm.

            And they weren’t ‘all’ once funded by the government, by a long way. Mmmmmmmmm.

            • jt says:

              One thing there is no doubt about is that those who send their children to private school provide a huge percentage of the tax dollars that support public schools.

              • Triangle Drifter says:

                They pay twice. Once for their share of the public system, which costs much more & produces far less, & the second time for the private tuition.

                How is that fair?

                As far as behavior at school goes & the need for cctv, well, behavior habits are learned at home.

          • jt says:

            O.J….stop presenting yourself as an expert on Bermuda history…or any history. You’re not.

  2. San George says:

    Was the chase video retained? Opps – technical difficulty. He fell off the bike. Who needs the courts when they can act as judge, jury and punisher.

  3. Umm says:

    The fact that this statement was even made shows they haven’t been very observant. Such a shame.

    • Build a Better Bermuda says:

      This statement is nothing more than a political pander. You are right, they don’t have a clue, that $6m spent for the current system is a fraction of what it would cost to cover all the public schools. The current system cover a limited number of points, multiple cameras all installed at a single point… there are more schools to cover, the cameras would need to be spread out over a large area for each campus, but still need to be tied back to a single point, thus requiring far more infrastructure and labour cost to install than the current system… then there would be the additional data storage and software licensing required for the more than double the amount of video data to collect. Let’s face it, the PLP aren’t really interested in the reality to deploy cameras in the schools… just how good it sounds when they say they believe it should be done.

  4. Bermyman says:

    I agree, how is this not already in place!?

  5. bluebird says:

    So now do you see why normal people don’t want there children to go to Public Schools.
    What a huge waste of money on an Education system that caters to the BTU.
    Bermuda Teachers Union.
    Scrape the whole system and go to vouchers to every parent of every child.
    Only then will we see some progress in our countries education as we cannot compete with other schools systems in the world.
    We are 50 years behind in the Public school system.
    The BTU is an extremely exspensive baby sitting system.

  6. serengeti says:

    How would a CCTV system have made any difference to the Whitney bomb scare?

  7. Grizz says:

    Oh how quickly people forget. This farce of an education system started under UBP! Mega Schools…biggest mistake ever made in Bermuda. Play the ‘who we gonna blame game’ all you like, it was a mistake that intervention can’t help. I may sound like Ms. Doom and Gloom but deal with it, it’s reality! The best solution is for parents to become more involved with your children. They are gonna need it. And @BUILD A BETTER BERMUDA…pls shut the hell up cause UBP were corrupt for many years they were just better at covering their asses! NO POLITICAL PARTY IS INNOCENT..PERIOD

    • real talk says:

      And who continued it and then turned around and wasted more money building another MEGA school.

      • yess says:

        So just have one brand new school CBA and one old broken down school Berkeley? You don’t even make sense.

    • Kangoocar says:

      @grizz, I do actually agree with you mostly, but may I remind you of who’s idea it was the UBP ran with ( for political reasons of course ) to build those mega schools?? It actually was dame Jennifer smiths/ plp idea to build those schools!!!! Hope this helps you see the light????

    • Triangle Drifter says:

      Oh puhleeeze! What MEGA school. Get on a plane. Fly for a couple hours & see how big the schools are anywhere you choose to land in that 2 hours. 1000 student schools are the norm. With few exceptions these students are in schools where good behavior is the norm.

      The problem is that we have kids who do not know how to behave. We have a bunch of breeders & very few parents. To them somehow it is the schools responsibility to raise their kids.

  8. N says:

    I like this idea!! ALL Corridors w/ clear coverage!!

  9. Kangoocar says:

    I wish we had CCTV cameras focused on all the plp fiscal actions during their reign of terror!!!!!

  10. Keepin' it Real!...4Real! says:

    First of all…The PLP shouldn’t be calling for anything…They really should be quiet and upgrading their own solutions to bermys problems rather than ask the govt. Of the day knowing full well there is NO funds available…but i can see how blaming them for not doing as you’ve asked works with the blind mice accepting your strategy depicting failure…but as many before me has said, the PLP had their chances to fix the problem but as many of them can tell you…They did as they were TOLD to do.

    As for y’all who have qualms about the UBP . ..I know many people that are well off today…retired and living a very comfortable life…how many can say this post 1998..?

  11. Grizz says:

    @keepin it real, Keep reading your last sentence OVER AND OVER, you might just get it! Unbelievable

    @Triangle drifter, anywhere in the world?! we are a 21 square mile island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean so YES they ARE considered MEGA here! Other places in the World aren’t this small. You people come on here and run off at the mouth like everyone else is ignorant! If I suggest that you ram your car into the wall to test the airbags and you do it; who is dumb, you or me? So now it’s Dame Jennifer’s fault cause it was her idea?!
    Just keep drifting…smdh

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