While the people of St. Kitts and Nevis are grateful to the Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) for financing the EC$5 million CCTV Project in St. Kitts, questions are being asked if the Timothy Harris-led Team Unity Government has the cameras operationalised in the fight to prevent, reduce and solve crimes when recent incidents happened within several feet of CCTV cameras.
The question of the operation and monitoring of the CCTV cameras was recently raised by Central Basseterre Member of Parliament, Hon. Marcella Liburd following the early morning shooting incident just outside the Irish Town Primary School as students and teachers were arriving to school around 8 o clock last month.
A CCTV camera is just outside the Irish Town Primary School where the shooting took place on June 19 and two cameras are feet away where a shooting took place on July 14 on the corner of Central and Westbourne Streets.
“People are wondering about all these cameras that are up and whether they are producing little or no result. That is one of the big questions that are being asked all over. This is certainly one of the questions that should be addressed publicly, because if the country spent all this money putting up the cameras – which is a good thing – but they cannot be just up there (on posts) for a joke, just to say you (government) put up cameras and nothing is really happening with respect to be able to identify the perpetrators,” said Liburd in a recent WINNFM interview after the Irish Town Primary School shooting.
Saturday night’s shooting on the corner of Central Street and Westbourne Street occurred in the glare of two sets of CCTV cameras.
“Investigations so far have revealed that a motor car, travelling along Westbourne Ghaut, stopped at the corner of Central Street where persons were gathered on the seaside, and opened fire. Kirk “Scotty” Hobson of Upper Fiennes Avenue and Javed Gumbs of Lime Kiln received several gunshot injuries about the body. Gail Williams, who was standing a short distance from the corner, was grazed by a bullet on her head,” a police statement said.
Williams was waiting outside the pharmacy with her granddaughter in her hand to fill a prescription when she was struck by a bullet.