Minister of National Security, Senator Dwight Nelson, has congratulated the Mandeville community for the successful implementation of a closed-circuit television surveillance (CCTV), saying it is an important step in crime prevention and the effort to improve public safety.

The minister, speaking Sunday during a church service to launch the system, said the system will go a long way in helping to combat the rising levels of violence and crime creeping into once peaceful, low-crime towns and communities such as Mandeville.

The service, which was held at the Mandeville Baptist Church, had in attendance members of the police force, representatives of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce and scores of residents.

Minister Nelson said to this end, the CCTV will allow for early intervention of crime by deploying officers more quickly in response to transgressions in progress, and will also facilitate a faster pursuit of suspects after an incident has occurred.

Superintendent Ryland Salmon said the surveillance system has already experienced some success, pointing out that in a single day, the CCTV was instrumental in the detection of persons selling illicit drugs, two men alleged to have committed rape and 162 breaches of the Road Traffic Act.