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Good practice Imported

Belize's AI-Enabled CCTV Rollout — A Facial-Recognition Deal Paused Over Data Sovereignty

Belize · Belize City · See the Belize profile · See the Belize City profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 100% 7/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Belize funded a national AI-enabled CCTV and facial-recognition programme with a $30M CABEI loan, but paused its flagship facial-recognition vendor deal in 2024 over data-sovereignty concerns, with no privacy impact assessment or published accuracy figures.

50 cameras
Cameras installed in initial phase (January 2024)
500 participants
Biometric ID pilot participants
Belize's AI-Enabled CCTV Rollout — A Facial-Recognition Deal Paused Over Data Sovereignty

Details

Maturity
Discontinued
Promoter
Belize Police Department / Ministry of Home Affairs (Belize Integral Security Programme)
Period
2023–2025
Keywords
public safety, facial recognition, surveillance, biometric data-sharing

Context

Under the Belize Integral Security Programme, the Belize Police Department (Ministry of Home Affairs) began installing AI-enabled CCTV cameras in Belize City, funded by a US$30 million (BZ$60 million) loan from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI).

Objectives

The programme aimed to build a national AI-enabled CCTV and 911 system, scaling to at least 1,000 cameras with facial recognition supplied by vendor Biometrica, alongside a national biometric ID pilot.

Activities

A 50-camera phase was inaugurated in January 2024 (BZ$1,128,186.60 contract), and a BZD$3.89 million contract for the national AI-enabled CCTV and 911 system was signed for completion in 2025. A related national biometric ID pilot enrolled 500 participants over six months and was called 'successful' by a government official, with no metrics published.

Results

In October 2024, the Biometrica facial-recognition deal was paused after Belize declined to transfer its full criminal database and fingerprint records to the vendor over data-sovereignty concerns; Biometrica's software was also reported to have had problems in other Caribbean deployments. In July 2025, Belize signed a biometric data-sharing agreement with the United States (~US$250,000 in equipment), which an opposition senator and a local editorial publicly criticised as 'digital colonialism,' citing the absence of a Privacy Impact Assessment, public consultation, or a fully operative data protection law.

Conclusions

No source — government or independent — publishes facial-recognition accuracy, crime-reduction, or cost-benefit figures for the programme. This is a documented deployment, not a documented success: it illustrates the governance risk of scaling AI-enabled surveillance ahead of privacy legislation and public consultation.

Implementation
Indicative cost
High (€500k–€5M)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Belize Police Department / Ministry of Home Affairs (programme owner), Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) — loan financing, Biometrica (facial-recognition vendor — deal paused)

Conditions for success

  • A Privacy Impact Assessment, public consultation, and a fully operative data protection law were absent when the biometric-sharing agreement was signed, per opposition and press criticism
  • The facial-recognition vendor deal was paused specifically over unresolved data-sovereignty concerns about transferring the full criminal database and fingerprint records

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

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