RCIPS deny June shooting cover up
(CNS): Police have confirmed that information connected to a shooting last month was not deliberately withheld from the public but was an administrative oversight compounded by the fact that the shooting was not reported to the police at the time. A police spokesperson told CNS yesterday that the incident came to the attention of the RCIPS via the hospital and that the victim had not contacted the police in the first instance.
Police said that although they had interviewed the subject he could offer very little information other than that on 28 June he was walking along School Road, in the Rock Hole areaof George Town and saw a grey or silver car come towards him, he heard an explosion and then felt the pain in his hip as the car spend away. At that point the wounded man flagged down another car to take him to the hospital.
He then remained in hospital for around one week recovering from the gun shot wound. Police said that they went to the reported scene as soon as they were informed by the hospital that they were treating a patient for gun shot wounds. However, nothing was found at the scene and no one in the area reported hearing any gun shots fired. Furthermore police said the victim was unaware of anyone who would want to shoot him and could give no more information. No arrests have been made in the case.
Police stated that there was no intention to hide the information but due an administrative oversight an official statement had not been released.
“The RCIPS endeavors to keep the community informed of all crimes and incidents of interest. This year alone, over 200 press releases have been issued by the police department," a police spokesperson said. "It is unfortunate that at times some incidents may slip though the process – but this is not intentional. The RCIPS would never attempt to hide information from the public about crimes or incidents. All updates are placed on our website www.rcips.ky where members of the public can access the latest news.”
Category: Headline News
"RCIPS: You know where the crime is happening (hell, EVERYONE knows about this criminal hot spot), so why are there no cameras, foot patrols, or wait – how about an actual arrest of the people openly smoking ganja on the streets around there? Are you afraid?"
I was there yesterday, as I had to drive through (I would never go there otherwise. I am not a small man but musclecan’t fight bullets).
Same old stuff going on – drinking and dope smoking in the streets and parking lots, and not a cop to be seen. One group actually seemed to be camping and partying in the parking lot of a local law firm (I bet the lawyers love that).
The cops were probably afraid.
"RCIPS deny June shooting cover up"
Of course they deny covering it up… they are so clueless that they barely knew it happened. I can see the would-be press release now:
The RCIPS confirm that they have heard a rumour that a crime has occurred but wish to assure the public that they actually know nothing about it whatsoever. The public are therefore safe and should not worry.
The RCIPS also confirm that all efforts to find a clue regarding the rumour have failed, despite one officer having actually exited his air-conditioned vehicle during the course of the investigation (said officer is being given a commendation for efforts above and beyond the usual call of duty).
Anyone knowing anything about the rumoured crime are asked to phone a member of the RCIPS. Please call for the number, and leave a message since we won’t be in. If we don’t get back to you, the information didn’t help.
The RCIPS also ask that the public please stop spreading unsubstantiated rumours of crimes, as it is getting too hot to require officers to get out of their vehicles to investigate. Thank you for your attention.
OK, so there have been 200 press releases? You might only need five to ten if people were not piecemealed information like dummies. What I would love to know is how much money the RCIPS wastes on its communications office. The press releases are a collective joke and basically just there to satiate the journalists on island without telling them anything more. Its called being proactive and when a press officer issues a statement its basically a way of saying "thats all you get , now shut up." The RCIPS is right though, there can’t be a cover up when you don’t have to tell anyone jack to begin with. People are deliberatly not told about crime in Cayman all the time. The RCIPS dcides to tell you when they make a big ganja bust but declines to tell you that someone down your street got shot at. If there’s nothing to hide, then just make crime data available on a daily basis.
If there was a daily police blotter available to the public and an arresst report no one would need the RCIPS to hand feed everyone what they think they should know. Everyone who lives in Cayman pays taxes and deserves to know how they are policed. The working assumption is the that RCIPS is a paid vacation for expat cops and a do nothing job for Caymanians who will never get promoted anyways. The silence by the RCIPS on their obvious failures is deafening.
I implore the RCIPS to begin a transparent culture shift away from their current one of secrecy. How many other shootings that did not result in deaths don’t we know about? How many assaults? How many robberys, home invasions and thefts are we not told about? We don’t know because the system is closed to people. The RCIPS gets picked on because they are the most visable example of Cayman’s problems and when they screw up it concerns everyone. Action and not words will gain respect back for the RCIPS.
you say "The working assumption is the that RCIPS is a paid vacation for expat cops and a do nothing job for Caymanians who will never get promoted anyways. The silence by the RCIPS on their obvious failures is deafening. "
I say no, no, no, no, no and no. The problem here is that expat cops come in, and for the most part, want to do a professional and dedicated job. The main problem here my friend is that either Caymanian, or Caymanianised (usually senior) police officers are threatened by that dedication because it makes them look as bad as they are. You are pointing your words in the wrong direction friend. If it was as you say, why would all the expat cops (42) have left the islands, usually under conflict with the ‘senior’ officers. If you import overseas officers, you should be sure that the way they work ‘back home’ is what you want to see here…
If you think that expats find this a holiday (maybe with the exception of one set of officers) then you are much mistaken. The solution here is to employ TOTALLY impartial officers, and allow them to DO THEIR JOBS not be shackled by the incestuous (good word, read it on here) and small minded supervisors. THEY are killing your police, not foreigners, not governors, not government, the cancer is within.
Peace out
Target,
You are right when you say that "most" expat officers come here and want to do a professional and dedicted job….and even more right when you say that you have to be sure that you want them to do the job here that they do back home…but that is the underlying problem here….about 19 years ago, the first group of UK officerswere seconded to the RCIP. These officers were chosen from about 2500 candidates in the UK…and did a splendid job. and for the most part all the officers who have followed them from the UK have been dedicated and hard working police officers…however there is not denying that some of them have been outright lazy gits….and that it seems that all are being tarred with the same brush…it doesn’t help that the senior leadership of the RCIP for decades has always been imported from the UK…this along with the real or percieved feeling of favoritism or nepotism on the part of these same senior officers towards some of these same UK officers…I seem to recall hearing stories when a certain Deputy Commissioner was employed, that if you played rugby, then you walked on water..get drunk and go streaking through the governors house??? Oh well, youthful exuberance…..get caught cheating on a promotional exam??? not only do you keep your job, YOU GET PROMOTED!!..These are just a few examples of things which could very well have lead to a feeling of disenfranchisment of Caymanian officers….It is no secret that ANY police officer has a very thankless job…but that is the life you sign up for…So, If you get thanked for the job that you do as a police officer, be tgrateful that someone took the time to do so, but don’t lash out at the community when they express frustration and anger at the perception of incompetency, laissez-faire and do nothing attitude that is being shown to us, the public, on a daily basis..That being said…it’s no illusion that Cayman was a safer place to live when you had real professional police officers on the beat, who really were proud to be Police Officers,rather than the cadre of "uniform wearers" that you have today, whose only pride of accomplishment seems to be how many apartments they have and how many more they are going to build and who spend their days in AL Thompsons and Cox and Uncle Bills, rather than actually doing what they are drawing a handsome salary to actually do…..The prevention and detection of Crime. It’s not wonder that many in the community are now suggesting that the slogan of the RCIP be changed…to " We act like we care, when we listen"..
No wonder why the murder rate here is more than double what it is in New York. The police here can’t even organize a press release that a citizen has been shot, let alone mount a functional investigation.
RCIPS: You know where the crime is happening (hell, EVERYONE knows about this criminal hot spot), so why are there no cameras, foot patrols, or wait – how about an actual arrest of the people openly smoking ganja on the streets around there? Are you afraid? Too scared to go and stand in the middle of these people? Go flip burgers then!
Disgraceful.
As a matter of policy, shouldn’t the hospital staff be obliged to inform the police if they admit a patient with a suspected gunshot wound? If not for the patient’s sake, for their own sake and sake of other patients?!? The public doesn’t need armed thugs roaming the hospital hallways looking to finish a job like in the case of the Sheldon Brown hospital shootings.
http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/2005/04/04/shootings.shtml
OVERSIGHT??????? My bottom!!! how in the world a person can be put in so much danger and nothing is done. What does it takes for the RCIPS to really get something done around this damn place. If you call them and tell them that a boat load of ganja is on Seven mile beach washed up. every officer in the force will be on the scene to investigate, but when it comes to people lives they are like turtles, slow as F@#$!!!!!
I’m sorry to say that the RCIPS is failing rapidly. We need more able bodied and concern citizens in the force, people who would get off their butts and get things done, people who are not corrupt and will let their friend or family slip by with any corruption or crime.
The Cayman Islands is such a small place for us to not know what is taken place in these Islands. Mr. Baines it time for you to rise and shine and give Cayman the glory. Get your lazy officers out into the battle field and fight this war.
People are scared to death in their communities. I feel that if the RCIPS put out a zero tolerance with these criminals, crime will decrease. Putting them in Northward isn’t the answer, they live life and don’t have to pay for it. When a person go to prision it shouldn’t be all fun and games, They should be put to work, take on projects in the community, some of these prisoners are skilled and have the ability to do more than they are credited for.
Put these harden criminals to work and make them earn their food. We live in a society where we have gold spoon being fed with and yet we don’t appreciate NOTHING!!!! More rules have to be applied or else we will always have full prison cells.
Mr. Baines get up and do something for the people of this country.
God Bless.
I agree with you 100%Concerned Cayman…This is a war..and unfortunately in war, there are casualties…and that is how the police need to approach this…no one wants to lose a friend, coworker, brother, sister, mother, father, etc….but that is the cost of freedom!! That is why the country is in the shape it is in….none of these "warriors" wants to put themselves in the line of fire!! Like they say….."everybody want to go to heaven, but nobody want to die!!" Our front line is sitting in the rear with the gear!!! They need to drop their C&*cks and grab their socks!! If you aint part of the solution, then you are part of the problem!!
If I were the RCIPS, I would leave all of you to police yourselves.
Governing or working with people isn’t easy, you people complain about EVERYTHING. Absolutely nothing is done right and at the same time, want perfection from everything.
May I take the time to humbly apologize, on behalf of the RCIPS and government, that they are not perfect because we can all be perfect within our high capacities as humans.
We can just start saying as well how long they took to report to the scene of the shooting. Did anyone consider why the victim never reported? Maybe HE has something to hide.
The crime simply was not reported, Get over it! RCIPS is not to blame.
May God continue to bless us.
Hahahahaha I know this is a terrible situation in Cayman an it aint funny but that response "Administrative Oversight" that tops it all next to "Strategic Oversight" "Impotent Oversight" is what it should be Please please do something someone that can
Mann wein real problems all you can do is shake your head. What a country How much more are we going to put of with.
I wonder how often this happens, "administrative oversight". It just gets more and more eviden the new comissioner needs to really shake up the RCIP, from Top to Bottom and back up again.