Amb. Fiona Fan of the Republic of China (Taiwan), Hon. Camillo Gonsalves, Minister of Finance, Economic Planning, and the Information Technology, Mr. Christopher Benjamin, Assistant Commissioner of Police of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force, attended the Opening Ceremony of the “Enhancing Public Safety with the Intelligent Video Analytics Project for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines” at Questelles Police Station on 29th September 2023, and announced a new strategic partnership to bolster public safety and CCTV system capabilities in SVG.
Amb. Fan highlighted the significant role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Internet of Things (IoT) in modern society. She pointed out that these technologies have the potential to greatly assist in the management and safety of cities. Furthermore, Ambassador Fan announced Taiwan’s commitment to supporting in SVG by introducing license plate recognition systems, which will further enhance the safety and security maintained by SVG police force. In the future, Taiwan will donate 130 megapixel cameras, 30 pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras, and 30 police body cameras to SVG. Taiwan will also work with SVG to expand the size of its operation center, establish a disaster recovery system for data, and provide 9 training courses on topics such as image recognition and analysis, and equipment maintenance.
Minister Gonsalves said in his remarks that several years ago, the option for the government to deal with social security issues on a certain hotspot is to deploy a streetlight, now it could deploy a high-resolution camera and through the operation of the monitoring center, social security in SVG had been greatly improved. He expressed his gratitude to the government and people of Taiwan and great anticipation for the introduction of new technologies.
Assistant Commissioner Benjamin discussed the positive impact of the previous information project between Taiwan and SVG in maintaining law and order in SVG. He emphasized how this collaboration had provided the SVG police force with a valuable tool in their fight against crime. Benjamin expressed hope that this project will continue to be successful, fostering even greater cooperation between the two nations in their ongoing efforts to combat crime.
Amb. Fan, Minister Gonsalves and Assistant Commissioner Benjamin later heard the briefing of the quality and application of the cameras and visited the 24-hour real-time monitoring center. They commended the outcome and pledged to provide full support to the Project. (E)