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ST. LUCIA — The Government of St. Lucia has committed, with the help of telecommunications giant Digicel, to install 500 additional closed circuit television cameras along the island’s roadways in its latest effort to battle crime.
As of Dec. 23, 2019, the island with a population of 178,844 (according to 2017 data), recorded 47 homicides for that year.
St. Lucia Prime Minister Allen Chastanet said the initiative is part of his medium-term development plan for the period ending 2022. If successful, the effort would make St. Lucia citizens safer by reducing serious crime by 45 percent, while reducing repeat offenders by 35 percent, Mr. Chastanet said.
Speaking at a pre-cabinet press briefing on Jan. 13, Mr. Chastanet said such interventions are necessary. He also said that the initiative had already seen some signs of success after a high caliber weapon was confiscated last weekend. It was not clear whether the weapon confiscation resulted from surveillance cameras.
A 2017 review by Alexandrie of seven randomized and natural experiments of CCTV, found crime reductions between 24 percent and 28 percent in public streets and urban subway stations, but no effect in parking facilities.
