POLICE Commissioner Dr Kevin Blake has reiterated that activating body-worn cameras (BWCs) without the necessary infrastructural build-out to support the storage of data is nonsensical.

Blake issued the reminder at the 2025 Security Seminar on Thursday, in an obvious response to groups and individuals who have accused the police of not using the technology during special operations.

“We hear a lot of talk about body-worn cameras, why we don’t put on body-worn cameras. Pinning body-worn cameras without this level of investment and preparation makes no sense,” Blake said at the seminar staged by the Office of the National Security Advisor at AC Hotel Kingston.

In stressing that there is no disconnect between the transformation of Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and crime-fighting, Commissioner Blake said, “Our technology effort is broken down into four basic programmes: Infrastructure, which really is your servers, radio network, satellites; and after you have the infrastructure you need to secure the infrastructure; you need to ensure that the structure is secure; and the data goes only to who it is supposed to go to.

“Now that we have the network and the infrastructure is secure, the next thing is the tools, the software, the case management system,” he explained.

“We have to have all of this in place. The infrastructure must be in place because all of this is an effort to supporting automation of your business process — meaning all of your software — and there is no data that is more resource-demanding than video and images that is extracted from body-worn cameras,” he stated.

“Bear in mind that these images captured today may be relevant for court proceedings months down the road, and so it requires capacity. So, just pinning them and having the videos captured and when you are ready to use it you don’t have it makes no sense,” the police commissioner said.

The calls for body-worn cameras have intensified since this year.

On Friday, Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom) — in a statement on its investigations into two separate fatal police shooting incidents which resulted in the deaths of three men on February 6 — said in each of the incidents a firearm was reported as recovered from each deceased man.

Indecom also said that “no body-worn cameras were reported as being issued or worn by the officers in any of the fatal shooting incidents”.

The agency said these latest incidents increase to 35 the number of people who have been fatally shot by the security forces so far this year. Seven of the deaths occurred in this month.

It said comparatively, in 2024, nine people were fatally shot during the month of February.

The constabulary, in an undated news article on its website, quoted Blake as acknowledging the progress and the hurdles in JCF’s journey with BWCs, conceding that the initial implementation was somewhat “myopic” as limited attention was paid to the infrastructure necessary to support the cameras’ data.

He emphasised that in response to these initial missteps JCF has made significant investments in building a robust infrastructure that can support the long-term use of BWCs, with more than $2 billion spent in enhancing the infrastructure over the last three years to address network capacity, storage, and data management — which are critical components for any successful BWC programme.

“We usually do not buy car seat covers prior to buying a car,” the commissioner is quoted as saying at the time.

In the meantime, addressing critics who have scoffed at the quality of preparation of recruits, the commissioner said, “We hear narratives out there about how we train our people, and it’s about marching up and down and stuff like that. You would be surprised to know the level of intellectual investment, and training, and development that goes into taking a civilian and turning them into a police.

“I tell people we can train five soldiers, one after the other, for the US Army in the time it takes to prepare a civilian until he is confirmed and at the end of his probation. It takes us eight months of training, two years of probation, and within that two years you are under the supervision and management of a training sub officer where they have to attend classes every single week, they have to do exams, and those have to be assessed. That happens for two years before an officer can be confirmed,” the police commissioner stressed.

In noting that this has been the standard, Commissioner Blake said the force has also pursued one of the most coveted accreditations in law enforcement training called International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement and Law Enforcement Standard of Training.

“Our National Police College of Jamaica is one of only 34 police academies worldwide who have achieved this accreditation,” Blake told the seminar.

“Our traditional basic training is fully accredited. In addition, we have pursued and obtained accreditation on two of our programmes — criminal justice, and law enforcement instruction and development. Not only do we have courses that develop our members and send them out, but we also have accredited courses that develop our instructors,” he said, adding that there are accredited courses for officers in the gazetted ranks.