Analytics in Action: Improving Policing in the Bahamas

The Bahamas is a bustling hub of Caribbean tourism – welcoming upwards of seven million visitors a year – and its capital city, Nassau, is also a bustling center of local commerce, law, administration, education, and media. To ensure that the city is meeting the needs of residents and visitors alike, city leaders and the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) have upgraded their video technology systems to reduce crime such as kidnappings, pickpocketing, vehicular homicides, and armed robberies, and to help authorities manage emergency responses.

In early 2020, the Ministry of National Security of the Bahamas began centralizing their existing video surveillance infrastructure at the city’s new Real-Time Crime Center. BriefCam’s video analytics applications, including License Plate Recognition (LPR) and Facial Recognition, are part of the comprehensive solution implemented at this command center. According to Zhivago Dames, Assistant Commissioner of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, “Technology and innovation have taken off at the speed of light — and this will only accelerate. Embracing the innovations that improve police work is no longer optional.”

When evaluating their needs for this comprehensive overhaul, the police force identified 2 main areas that would benefit from upgraded video technology solutions: criminal activity and hit-and-run accidents. The upgraded video technology empowers accurate monitoring of potential criminal activity, vehicle tracking for hit-and-run accidents, and elevated external security for incident hotspots.

Curbing Criminal Activity

As in any urban area, there are known criminal hotspots across the city, such as the Prime Minister’s home. To curb incidents in those areas and to better track and monitor suspects, gain situational awareness, and locate or identify people post-event, the RBPF added system infrastructure like video analytics to transform the video data coming in from hundreds of new IP-video cameras into actionable intelligence.

Reducing Traffic Accidents

The RBPF Real-Time Crime Center is also leveraging their upgraded technology to monitor traffic related accidents and keep drivers accountable for their actions. Comprehensive video analytics could even be applied to proactively determine areas that are vulnerable to accidents so decision makers can strategically implement solutions to make these areas safer. Thankfully, the city has reported a significant decrease in hit-and-run accidents since overhauling their technology stack.

BriefCam is honored to support the Royal Bahamas Police Force and their efforts in transforming Nassau into a safer, smarter city. For more information on how BriefCam is supporting smart city transformations globally, check out our case study, Analytics in Action: Safe Cities