THE Jamaica Customs Agency is seeking to introduce body cameras for staff, especially those who carry out field operations and enforcement activities.

The announcement, which was made at yesterday’s Carreras Limited Anti-Illicit Trade Conference at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston, was one of several new measures outlined that will eventually come on stream in the near future at the agency.

“It will be similar to the police in terms of the officers would wear it when they are going on their enforcement missions. So it will record everything that happens. There are times when people will come and say your officers did this or your officers did that, so we want to know that our officers behaved very professionally and that if it were a search, for example, that it was legitimately done and we can stand up to scrutiny when we go to court,” Acting Deputy Commissioner for Operations Kirk Benjamin told the Jamaica Observer during an interview at the event.

“We’ve had instances, even at the airport, where people say ‘your officers tried to take a bribe’ and the officer says ‘no, I didn’t’. So it’s the customer’s word against the officer’s. The camera will be an impartial, independent observer that would have seen everything that has taken place. So it’s not a matter of spying on the staff or spying on the importer but it is a matter of providing a sterile environment that can protect both parties,” Benjamin added.

However, the acting deputy commissioner for operations said he was not able to state the exact date for implementation, noting that the idea is still being researched.

“We are continuing to do our internal work because we have to ensure that we meet all legal requirement as well because you’re talking about people’s civil rights. So we have been doing testing because we do have staff that go out and do the testing to ensure that the feed, recording and sound are proper, but we haven’t set a date yet for the roll-out,” he said. “What we are looking for is for all officers to have it, but we’ll have to look at what our resources are.”

International advisor in illicit trade, Michael Ellis, who was guest speaker at the conference, told the Observer that he was encouraged by the presentations and in particular the idea to have Customs staff wear body cameras.

“I think there are some fantastic initiatives; some things I haven’t heard before, for example body cameras on Customs officers. I have not heard that before. I think that is a very good initiative to protect one, the Customs officer and two, to look back on certain procedures and steps that are taking place during examinations,” Ellis said.

Other measures being pursued by Customs include continued dialogue with partners to facilitate upgrading of scanners at the port to eliminate human intervention; upgrading closed-circuit television (CCTV) capabilities to record in low and no light; forge closer ties with international partner; and beefing up internal affairs to keep officers on their toes.

— Kimone Francis