FALMOUTH, Trelawny — The Trelawny police have revealed that members of the Falmouth business community are generally reluctant to share images from their CCTV cameras at the request of detectives during their probes.

Consequently, crime officer at the Trelawny Police Division, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Clive Wright, has appealed to business operators to cooperate with the police when they are called upon to assist with footage from CCTV cameras.

“An incident will happen on Market Street [Falmouth] and the team go through the full length of the street and we can’t find one CCTV camera that is working. Or is it that they don’t want to assist with the investigations? Every business that I stop they are saying our cameras are not recording, they are not this, they are not that. In order for us to fight crime in today’s society we have to use technology,” DSP Wright said.

“There are some challenges that we face on a daily basis. We are operating in a very small township and one of our greatest challenges is obtaining evidence that can assist in our investigations. One such in today’s modern day of technology is CCTVs, as simple as that,” he added.

Commander of the Trelawny Police Division Acting Superintendent Winston Milton, who concurred with Wright, added that the cameras should be not be installed as a mere show.

“Ladies and gentlemen it [CCTV cameras] cannot be a façade. If you have cameras, let it be good cameras. One, ensure that they are working and that the quality of the images that they produce are good and they can be used, particularly for law enforcement purposes,” Milton implored.

He criticised the inferior quality of the images that are frequently available whenever the camera owners do concede with the police request.

“On far too many occasions when we do have persons cooperating with us the quality of the image is not good, they can’t assist us. Even when we use our technology to enhance the resolution of the images, we are not getting something that can assist us in advancing our investigation,” Milton said.

He was addressing members of the Falmouth business community inside the conference room at the Trelawny Police Division headquarters at Falmouth Police Station Monday night.

Wright also bemoaned that workers are tight-lipped whenever the police are investigating robberies or any other crime committed at their workplace.

“One of the common trend when I go to do investigations they [employees] say they don’t know nothing, they don’t see nothing or they can’t speak without their supervisor. I am talking about the golden moments of the investigations, the first 24 hours. So I don’t know if it is the practice for us to tell our workers don’t talk to the police,” DSP Wright said.

“A crime was committed against you, or your staff, or your customers. So there are some simple little tips we are looking out for. So you are running a simple store, guys come into the store you have no idea who comes inside there yet still you lose millions and you are the person who handed it over to them? You can’t even tell me the colour shirt? There are some things that assist us. What direction did they [perpetrators] go?” he added.

Milton used the meeting to provide the business operators with useful information on how to safely transport cash to banks during the Yuletide season and other general safety tips.