The Antigua and Barbuda government is considering importing container loads of streetlights equipped with security cameras for installation along the country’s main roads as part of an expanded crime-fighting and beautification programme.
Prime Minister Gaston Browne disclosed the plan Saturday on the Browne and Browne Show while discussing a broader government effort to improve the appearance of communities, upgrade roads and strengthen public security.
“I’ve asked a few of my Cabinet colleagues to consider purchasing some of these street lights and cameras,” Browne said. “They can actually operate remotely and you’ll get the images going to your phone.”
The prime minister said the government hopes to move ahead with importing the equipment shortly.
“So we’re hoping that very shortly we can actually import a couple of containers [of] those lights and put them along the main roads as well,” he said.
The lights would serve a dual purpose, according to Browne, providing improved street lighting while expanding the government’s surveillance capabilities.
“Not only to provide lighting, but also to increase security in addition to the 220 cameras that we have installed already,” Browne said. “And this is part of the crime fighting mechanism.”
The initiative would therefore expand on the government’s existing network of surveillance cameras while integrating cameras directly into new streetlighting infrastructure.
Browne raised the plan while outlining several measures aimed at improving Antigua and Barbuda’s physical environment. He said road improvements should be accompanied by landscaping, better lighting and other measures designed to improve both the appearance and security of communities.
“So as we improve the country’s network of roads, we also want to make sure that we concurrently beautify those roads by putting in some nice plants,” he said.
The proposed streetlights would form another part of that effort.
Browne also connected the initiative to his administration’s push for what he described as a cleaner and more disciplined society.
He said Antigua and Barbuda could not achieve the government’s ambition of becoming a “lifestyle superpower” while contending with indiscriminate littering, derelict vehicles, deteriorating buildings and makeshift roadside vending structures.
“But generally speaking, when you have a more disciplined society, that society is more likely to progress at a faster rate than an indisciplined one,” Browne said.
The prime minister’s comments came as he outlined several measures the government intends to pursue simultaneously, including increased penalties and enforcement for littering, action against derelict vehicles and a crackdown on unauthorised and unsightly roadside vending.
He also said the Attorney General had been asked to develop a programme under which prisoners could assist with landscaping along major roads and maintaining public buildings.
The proposed camera-equipped streetlights could also feature in the government’s planned redevelopment and beautification of the corridor stretching from the Point and St. John’s waterfront area toward Fort James.
Discussing that area later in the programme, Browne again referred to plans for improved lighting and surveillance.
“We’re going to beautify that area, put in some nice plants and so on, nice street lights with cameras so that visitors who walk the streets going out to Fort James … are in a secured environment,” he said.
The prime minister did not specify how many camera-equipped streetlights would be contained in each shipment, their expected cost, the supplier or a precise timetable for their arrival.
However, he said the government hopes to import “a couple of containers” shortly, indicating the lights would be deployed along major roads as part of the wider security and infrastructure programme.
This article was originally published by Antigua News Room. Read the original article here: Antigua and Barbuda to Import Container Loads of Streetlights Equipped With Security Cameras.