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Good practice Imported

JamaicaEye — Jamaica's National AI-Enabled CCTV and Facial-Recognition Network

Jamaica · Kingston · See the Jamaica profile · See the Kingston profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 94% 27/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Jamaica's Ministry of National Security operates JamaicaEye, a nationwide camera network combining government and voluntarily-registered private cameras with facial recognition, license-plate recognition and crowd-counting analytics; camera count has tripled since 2018 with no pu

180
Cameras in network (2018) (2018)
605+
Cameras in network (most recent count)
~2,500
Further cameras approved (3-year expansion)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Ministry of National Security, with the Jamaica Constabulary Force
Period
2018-2025
Keywords
public safety, video analytics, facial recognition, law enforcement

Context

JamaicaEye launched in 2018, run by the Ministry of National Security together with the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), linking Ministry-owned cameras with registered private and business camera feeds into a single, centrally monitored network with facial recognition, license-plate recognition, geofencing and crowd counting.

Activities

Citizens and businesses can voluntarily register their own camera feeds via jamaicaeye.gov.jm, and the JCF monitors footage for crime response and investigation.

Results

Camera count grew from 180 in 2018 to more than 605 at the most recent count, with roughly 2,500 further cameras approved for installation over a three-year expansion. Jamaica Gleaner reporting documented case-clearance successes attributed to the system, without independently quantifying the effect.

Conclusions

The Jamaica Observer has publicly urged the government to establish ethical guidelines, legal safeguards and independent oversight for the facial-recognition component, implying these were not yet fully in place. No independently verified accuracy or bias-testing data for the Jamaican system was found in the sources reviewed.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — Cost not disclosed; network expanded via mix of government and voluntarily registered private cameras.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Launched 2018, ongoing operation and expansion through at least 2025.
Staffing & skills
Ministry of National Security, Jamaica, Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF)

Conditions for success

  • voluntary public/private camera registration to expand network coverage without full public capital cost

Common failure modes

  • press calls for ethical guidelines, legal safeguards and independent oversight of facial recognition suggest these are not yet fully in place
  • no independently verified accuracy or bias-testing data published

Where it fits

Governance type
national ministry with police force
Scale
national (Jamaica)
Income level
upper-middle income (Jamaica)

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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