Search Results for 'sexual harassment'
Fire service top brass faces damning report
(CNS):A damning report by Premier HR Management Solutions found that the leadership of the Cayman Islands Fire Service has been severely lacking in basic management skills. The report, compiled in September 2009, was kept under wraps for more than 18 months and only released as a result of a ruling by the information commissioner following an FOI application that had originally been denied. The independnet report was commisisoned by government following a sexual assault on a female fire officer in Cayman Brac. Despite the report’s findings, on the wide level of poor management skills at the top of the service, action has only been taken in connection with four employees.
Details of the “varying levels of disciplinary action” against those officers is still secret asthat information, along with numerous other specific personnel details about those involved in the sexual assault, was redacted from the report as directed by the information commissioner.
The victim had reported sexual abuse at the hands of two of her male colleagues back in February 2007. Eventually, following a police investigation just one officer, Dorian Hunter, was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison some two years after the indecent assault had taken place.
During the police investigation government ordered an independent review to determine if there should be any changes at the top level of the fire service with regard to responsibilities or compensation.
The report called for an “urgent need of a curriculum of Management & Leadership training in areas such as: Leadership & Management; Recognition Management – handling reward & promotions” among many other areas of management skills training. It also recommends that the chief fire officer should have more senior professional involvement in conferences, societies and networking.
The authors of the report examined the working environment and interviewed fire service employees throughout the whole service and found staff believed there was a power struggle and role identity confusion among senior managers, while management was perceived as “non-responsive” or slow to respond and sometimes ignore issues.
Staff reported that complaints were ignored or were disbelieved and there was the perception of favouritism, double standards and discrimination when dealing with performance issues among the employees of the service.
In particular, the issue of sexual harassment among female staff was poorly dealt with. Staff commented that there seemed to be a lack of recognition or definition of sexual harassment, including how to deal with email, insinuations or innuendo. Some female staff said they were reluctant to report inappropriate behaviour or harassment for fear of being stigmatised and their work-life being made uncomfortable. They had no confidential outlet to whistle blow and their human resources department was perceived as representing management’s interests.
The situation was so bad in Cayman Brac that female staff felt uncomfortable using the lunchroom and resorted to their car to eat their lunch.
Even though gender awareness training had been introduced into the fire service, employees said things had not changed much and there was still a prevailing atmosphere of sexual harassment towards female staff members. The report found that there were “strong indications of other inappropriate behaviour” and incidents of sexual assault but staff were afraid to give specific details.
Staff stated that while the authors of the report were around asking questions staff behaved in a way that “looked good to them” but once they left officers said they expected that the old behaviours would return.
The report makes almost forty recommendations, including the development of strategic selection and recruitment policies and the introduction of a more robust and structured reference and background checking protocol. It also suggests that a new and more user-friendly performance management set up should be installed at the fire service, along with the development and introduction of training and skills development policy.
In dealing with sexual harassment, the report suggests that the service make outlying district fire station’s facilities female compliant and adopt a customised policy on gender, harassment, misconduct, discrimination and other related grievances. It also concluded that the fire service must make the working environment more suitable for the six female officers it currently employs.
Premier HR Management Soloutions report part 3
Turks bank lays off staff in wake of complaints
(CNS): Nine months after opening, International Banking Group (IBG), a subsidiary of Cayman National, is reportedly making redundancies, the Turks & Caicos Sun reports, but the staff is calling for president and chief executive Ivan Browne to be sacked. The newspaper reports that following the receipt of their redundancy notices, the employees complained to The Sun about Browne’s management style, which they alleged has contributed, among other things, to rapidly deteriorating morale among the staff. The redundancies were said to come on the heels of a letter from bank chairman Stuart Dack (CEO of CNC), which revealed that a disciplinary panel found that Browne “exhibited inappropriate behaviour” towards a number of female staffers.
Sources told The Sun that a number of female employees had formally complained about sexual harassment from and by Browne since 2010 and it was these employees that appeared to be facing redundancy. The paper says it has a copy of a letter that Browne wrote to staff in the wake of his own disciplinary hearing warning them about the potential loss of their jobs.
“The general economic conditions have conspired against our original projections and we have no alternative but to now reduce staff members,” the letter states. “In order to achieve sensible economies some functions will now be further supported by our parent company in Grand Cayman and in other cases existing positions will go as work volumes and activity do not justify the role at this time.”
Women still vulnerable to abuse and inequality
(CNS): Despite many achievements in the field of gender equality, women in Cayman, in common with those around the world, are still more likely to be poor and vulnerable than men as well as face abuse and discrimination, the community services minister has said. Speaking at a special ceremony celebrating the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day,Mike Adam said the day served as a powerful reminder that empowering women and girls requires continued vigilance, dedication and commitment. He also pointed out that women’s participation in the political arena was not equal to that of men and more had to be done to empower local women.
“The National Assessment of Living Conditions Study indicates that the female population in the Cayman Islands is more likely than the male population to be among the poor and vulnerable,” Adam stated in his address at the Westin on Tuesday morning (8 March). “Furthermore, in many jurisdictions, as well as ours, women and girls remain the overwhelming victims of domestic abuse, sexual assault and other forms of exploitation.”
Talking about female participation in the country’s political arena, he said we see inequality there as well. He added that since 1997, when Deputy Premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly became the first female appointed as a minister, there has never been more than one female minister in Cabinet at any given time, and from 2005-2009 there were no female ministers.
“These facts signal to us that we must continue to uphold women’s rights and strengthen our efforts to ensure that we put in place proper programmes, policies and legal mechanisms to advance and uplift our women and girls,” he added.
Having passed the Protection Against Domestic Violence Law last year, which redefines domestic violence, expanding it beyond physical abuse to include sexual, financial, emotional and/or psychological abuse, he said further legislation was on the agenda to assist in the equality of the sexes.
Adam said that the Gender Equality Bill, 2011 is to be heard on Cabinet’s agenda this month and be brought to the Legislative Assembly this year – though he did not say when.
“This piece of legislation will be the most significant move in a very long time towards addressing gender equality issues in the Cayman Islands,” the minister stated. “The bill offers protection against gender discrimination on the basis of sex, marital status, and pregnancy. It covers issues such protection from gender discrimination in employment, training and recruitment; promotes equal pay for equal work; provides protection from sexual harassment in the work place, and other related matters.”
He explained that once this piece of legislation was in place, the Cayman Islands Government would then be able to make a request to the United Kingdom for the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), an international bill of rights for women, to be extended to Cayman.
“The extension of CEDAW would be a move to further strengthen the rights of women and girls in the Cayman Islands,” Adam said. “I must also remind each person that outside of any legislation or mandate to protect women, we have a moral responsibility to continue to strive for gender equality. Women play key roles in maintaining the social fabric of our community and strengthening our economic prosperity, and we must never forget that.”
A special poster was also unveiled at the ceremony celebrating 100 years of International Women’s Day.
Meanwhile, the WHO Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan, delivered a message listing the social and legal reforms that had improved the state of women’s health around the world but noted that maternal mortality rates and HIV rates among young women were still too high, tobacco consumption among women is increasing, sexual and other forms of gender-based violence continue to be widespread, and there is an increasingly heavy burden of non-communicable diseases on women.
The theme this year, "Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women", focuses on some basic determinants of women’s health.
“The direct and indirect ways that gender inequality prevents women of all ages from realizing their human right to health requires action now,” Chan stated. “Education and training equip girls and women with skills needed to protect their health but social norms deny many the chance to attend and complete primary and secondary levels of education. This negatively affects fertility and smoking rates and HIV prevention, and is associated with increased risk of experiencing sexual and other forms of gender -based violence.” She said involving women in health research and technology development ensures that medical advances do not jeopardize their health and ensures equal benefits from these advances.
“When women benefit from decent work conditions they are more likely to benefit from social protection measures such as employer-based health insurance, maternity benefits, occupational health and safety measures — all factors that improve access to health care and health outcomes,” Chan said, adding that when women and girls didn’t have equal access to these determinants of health, education, employment and health the systems have failed them.
Truth and reconciliation
As the RCIPS comes towards the end of its community road show a number of persistent issues have been raised by the Caymanian public at the meetings. One of them is the lack of trust the people have in the RCIPS as a result of a catalogue of different complaints that have never been resolved.
Over the years in my role as a reporter in the Cayman Islands I have been to many different community police meetings and have heard numerous stories, some shocking, some upsetting and some plain stupid, about the experiences people have had with the RCIPS. The common dominator is always that they were never addressed.
During his ‘meet the people experience’ Baines cannot have failed to see that a disproportionate amount of often law abiding people have a significant number of complaints for such a small community.
And because of the failure of anyone in the RCIPS to ever apologise, admit the mistake or offer any kind of explanation or resolution, the bad experiences have built up into an almost community-wide distrust of the entire service.
You don’t have to go far in Cayman before you find someone with a genuine gripe about their experience with the police and who has never had any closure on the issue. From the widespread belief that the police have exposed them when they have given information about a crime to poor customer service at the police station, serious allegations regarding incompetency, downright dishonesty and just plain discourtesy are not uncommon.
Police are, of course, only human so there will always be dishonest, discourteous and even stupid officers as there are people with those traits in the wider community – it’s life – but what has happened in Cayman is that there have been times when, although we have had all three among the rank and file and even management of the police service, no one has ever wanted to admit it.
Over the years the officers responsible for some of the complaints have disappeared. They have been removed quietly from their jobs, in some cases shipped off island, some have even gone to jail, but what has happened in many instances is that the complaints relating to these officers have never been acknowledged, let alone addressed.
Accusations as serious as sexual harassment, false arrests, perjury, revealing to a suspect the identity of who called the police on them, failing to take statements from key witness, sweeping investigations under the carpet, messing up investigations, losing evidence, losing statements – the list goes on, but what does not go on is the apologies.
Baines has talked a lot recently about his goal to stabilise and professionalise the RCIPS and ensure these things do not happen in the future but what he has not yet said is how he is going to address what has happened in the past.
While the marl road suggests officers have been sacked or have resigned as a result of these possible complaints, no closure has been offered to those who may have suffered at the hands of these incompetent, discourteous or downright dishonest officers that are now long gone.
In order to bring some resolution perhaps the RCIPS should establish its own truth and reconciliation commission. By letting those who have had bad experiences with the police tell their story publicly and have the police say what has happened to the officers in question, it may bring closure and help to rebuild trust. If they are no longer serving then the victims can be told the full story of the officer’s removal and perhaps have some explanation as to why their complaint was never addressed. If they are still serving then they can answer the complaints themselves.
Many of the stories and complaints that I have heard over the years require nothing more than a simple apology and an admission that the officer or service was wrong. Once the victims feel that their complaint has been properly aired and taken seriously, they can begin to rebuild the trust. And that trust is key to the RCIPS going forward as the loss of trust remains a major stumbling block for the RCIPS when it comes to solving crime.
Of course, not all the complaints are genuine and someone complaining that an officer was rude to them when they gave them a speeding ticket is hardly grounds for real truth and reconciliation. However,the hard truth is that there are far too many genuine complaints that have never been addressed that need to be.
So many stories and complaints have been covered up and swept under the carpet and, as a result, they continue to fester in the wider community, aggravating the existing gap between police and public at a time when crime is increasingly frequent and increasingly violent.
The tendency inherent in most law enforcement agencies to close ranks and cover up their collective shortcomings has made things worse in Cayman as it is such a small community and the bad news stories travel quickly.
While openness and transparency and admitting you are wrong are not always easy for authorities, if Baines is serious about professionalising and stabilising the RCIPS, it’s time for the service to swallow its proverbial pride and say it is sorry. It may well be worth it in the end.
Appointments made to three new commissions
(CNS): Pastor Al Ebanks (left), the head of the Cayman Ministers Association committee that helped negotiate the new Constitution and stood in strong opposition to an unqualified bill of rights, has been appointed Chairman of the Constitutional Commission. Chairing the new Human Rights Commission is former Attorney General Richard Coles, while Karin Thompson, a local attorney and member of the Sexual Harassment and Stalking Taskforce, will chair the Commission for Standards in Public Life, according to a release from the Portfolio of Internal and External Affairs.
The Constitutional Commission is a three-person commission established under section 118 of the new Constitution. Also appointed by Acting Governor Donovan Ebanks along with Pastor Al are community activist and former Deputy Clerk of the Courts Julene Banks and CEO of the Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce Wil Pineau.
Under the Constitution, this commission has a threefold remit of advising government on questions concerning constitutional status and development, promoting public understanding and awareness of the constitution and its values, and publishing reports, papers and other documents on any constitutional matters affecting the Cayman Islands. In broad terms, this commission may be said to combine the functions of an advisory body with those of a think tank on constitutional matters, the portfolio explained.
The five-member Human Rights Commission replaces the Human Rights Committee and is established under section 116 of the constitution. The newly appointed members are Richard Coles (Chairman), who was attorney general for the Cayman Islands from 1992 to 1999; local attorneys Sara Collins (who was chair of the Human Right Committee) and Alistair Walters; Cathy Frazier, a member of the Planning the Future for Persons with Disabilities Steering Committee, and the Reverend Nicholas Sykes, a member of Negotiating Team for the Constitutional Negotiations.
The primary responsibility of the commission is to promote understanding and observance of human rights in the Cayman Islands. This remit includes educating the public about the Bill of Rights, Freedoms and Responsibilities (Part 1 of the constitution), most of which are scheduled to come into effect on 6 November 2012. The Human Rights Commission has powers to establish mechanisms to hear and investigate public complaints about potential breaches of human rights, to provide a forum for mediation or conciliation, to give advice and guidance to enquirers of all kinds in relation to their human rights, and to publish reports on its own initiative on human rights issues.
Appointments to the Constitutional Commission and the Human Rights Commission will be for renewable terms of between two to four years, with members serving for different periods, so that new appointments or re-appointments can take place in a staggered fashion.
Five people have been appointed to serve on the Commission for Standards in Public Life: along with the chair Karin Thompson, Managing Partner for KPMG, Roy McTaggart; Pastor Winston Rose, a former member of the Public Service Commission; former Chief Education Officer Nyda-Mae Flatley; and local architect, Hedley Robinson.
Established under sections 117 and 121 of the Constitution, this commission has a broad remit but also specific responsibilities. Its overall function is to promote “the highest standards of integrity and competence in public life in order to ensure the prevention of corruption or conflicts of interest”. As such, it is entrusted with the specific responsibility for developing and maintaining up-to-date registers of interest for those employed in public life. In conjunction with its primary role of promoting standards in public life, it has powers to monitor compliance with such standards and to investigate breaches of them. In addition, it has powers to review and strengthen procedures for awarding public contracts and making public appointments. In broad terms, it acts as a watchdog, it responds to citizens’ concerns, and it promotes public trust in public servants and elected members. Under the constitution, its commissioners serve a four year term.
Administrative support for these three new commissions will be provided by a joint Commissions Secretariat, consisting of a Manager and up to five staff. The Secretariat is being established under the aegis of the Deputy Governor’s Office. A “joint services” approach to supporting the new commissions is considered prudent in the current fiscal climate.
The Commissions Secretariat will also support a fourth commission, the Judicial and Legal Services Commission, which will advise the governor on all judicial and legal appointments and will develop a code of conduct for the judiciary and a procedure for dealing with complaints. It is anticipated that appointments to the Judicial and Legal Services Commission will be made within the next two to three months.
The portfolio saidthese commissions would broaden citizen involvement in constitutional governance and strengthen our democratic way of life. For more on the commissions, see Institutions Supporting Democracy.
Women crawl towards equality legislation
(CNS): The development of legislation to prevent gender discrimination in the Cayman Islands may be moving painfully slowly, but it does appear to be moving. Officials from the Cayman Islands Government have said that it will release the draft Prevention of Gender Discrimination Bill (2010) for public consultation on Friday 18 December. The release will coincide with the 30th anniversary of the adoption by the UN of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the international human rights treaty which is exclusively devoted to gender equality and which has still not been extended to Cayman.
Often described as an international bill of rights for women, it defines discrimination against them and establishes an agenda for national action to end such discrimination. Deputy Premier and Gender Affairs Minister, Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, stated that the passage of local legislation would allow the extension of CEDAW to the Cayman Islands through the United Kingdom.
“Women’s rights have progressed considerably during the past three decades, but there are still major obstacles that prevent gender equality from being achieved,” O’Connor- Connolly said. “Given the far-reaching effects that this important piece of legislation will have on employees, employers and other bodies, I encourage the public to review the draft bill and provide their comments to the ministry.”
Senior Policy Advisor for Gender Affairs Tammy Ebanks-Bishop said the acceptance of the bill would ensure the extension of CEDAW locally and be a gain for women’s and girls’ rights on a practical, everyday level. She noted that, despite recent local advances, much remains to be done before reaching the point where principles of gender equality become national standards.
“Positive steps to date are the new Constitution Order with its Bill of Rights and the use of gender-inclusive language; the creation of the draft Protection Against Domestic Violence Bill (2009) and the Prevention of Gender Discrimination Bill (2010),” said Ebanks Bishop. “However, serious human rights violations against women still occur daily, such as domestic violence, sexual harassment and workplace discrimination due to maternity status or unequal pay for the same work as males.”
She further pointed out that social progress in gender equality is not automatic. “It requires considerable work, awareness and commitment in order to make the necessary societal changes that lead to increased gender equity. This CEDAW anniversary provides an international platform for increasing awareness,” she added.
Explaining that since 186 countries have ratified CEDAW, Ebanks Bishop said the anniversary presents an opportunity for the global community to celebrate its near-universal ratification and that many countries have scheduled a variety of events to acknowledge this essential tool for achieving women’s human rights. “In Argentina, a workshop is being held on CEDAW’s application to the Latin America and Caribbean region. Cameroon is organizing a vast media campaign to sensitize and inform the public on CEDAW. In Japan, the Minister for Gender Equality will host a gathering of female governors and mayors in order to publicize the importance of female participation in national decision-making,” the Senior Policy Advisor said.
For more information or to provide feedback on the draft Prevention of Gender Discrimination Bill, please visit www.gov.ky. The public has until 31 January 2010 to submit their comments.
Issue-led political forums fail to draw crowds
(CNS): With so many other events competing for the attention of residents last weekend from the Chamber’s Earth Day clean-up to the Batabano Junior parade the political events “Breakfast with the Candidates” and the “Youth Mixer” organised by local activists were both poorly attended. While candidates turned up in force potential voters were thin on the ground. However, with the big day only four weeks away the candidates did not pass up the chance to get their message out both on addressing sexual violence and how to meet the needs of the communities young people. (Left: Eddie Thompson)
Hosted by the Cayman Islands Crisis Centre (CICC), in partnership with the Estella Scott-Roberts Foundation (ESRF) “Breakfast with the Candidates” at the Family Life Centre on Saturday morning gave candidates an opportunity to tell voters what they intended to do if elected to address the increasing violence and abuse against women and children in the community.
The first speaker of the candidates present was Sandra Catron who was due to attend her sister’s funeral that morning but as a long time outspoken advocate on these issues made time to offer her thoughts before leaving for the service. Calling for an open sex offender’s register and the immediate implementation of gender legislation she said waiting around for cultural and behavioural change would not protect women and the children. “We have to move the moral compass with legislation,” she said. “We cannot wait for people to adjust their attitudes and I will demand the much needed legislation.” She said Cayman lags behind the region in implementing necessary laws. Catron criticized the current administration for talking about implementing laws but not actually doing it. She said she would work towards a definitive sexual offences act which included treatment and punishment and covered the issue of internet predators.
Theresa Lewis –Pitcairn who was unable to attend sent a message from overseas to the forum through Ellen Peguero, in which she indicated her concern about the gender violence and child abuse and said whether elected or not she would continue to give priority to these issues and called for education to extend to boys as much as girls and mandatory counselling.
Most of the candidates called for similar things including a cultural shift in attitudes, a challenge to existing myths, the need for sexual crimes to be equated to violent crime and transparency. The only other candidate to support Sandra’s call for an open sex offender’s register was Eddie Thompson who also pointed the finger at the church. Although speaking from church premises he still criticised the many churches on island for not speaking out as loudly as they should about both gender violence and sexual abuse. “I have advocated against it for years,” he said and lamented the failure of government agencies and the ngos to communicate. He also spoke about transparency and said he himself came close to becoming a victim of a perpetrator who was abusing boys in a sports club he belonged to in the past but when reports were made instead of the perpetrator being properly investigated and charged he was quietly removed from the island and no more was said about it.
Burns Conolly agreed that transparency was crucial and went across the board and said that it was time to stop covering up for those in authority or high offices who were also accused of these crimes and that no matter who was involved this crime would only be addressed through disclosure.
Perlina McGaw Lumsden also spoke from genuine experience of abuse in her own family when she was young and later sexual harassment as an adult. She said the UDP would attack the issue through comprehensive educational programmes and establish a public/private partnership. She also noted the need for co-ordination of existing agencies and resources for the crisis centre.
Gilbert McLean, Walling Whittaker, Bernie Bush, Dr Frank McField, Alfonso Wright and Ellio Solomon also attended and offered heir support for future legislation, increased transparency and expressed their desire to truly tackle the problem. After being challenged to really put their money where their mouths were by activist Marilyn Connolly, all the candidates agreed to take the Darkness to light seminar offered by the Crisis Centre which educates individuals on the issues surrounding the identification of abuse. Anthony Eden the minister with responsibility for gender affairs did not make the forum as a result of other commitments.
Later that day the same candidates were also crowding on to a platform at the former Marquee Cinema for a youth forum organised by Luigi Moxam a youth activist and local entrepreneur. Sadly however, there were very few young voters there to challenge them. Given a microphone and a platform however, the candidates pressed on regardless offering their thoughts on the issues affecting young people. Bernie Bush, independent candidate for West Bay who has devoted most of his life to dealing with youngsters noted that getting young people involved in the political process was an important issue and he knew how to engage young people. He said aside from the need for physical facilities for young people in West Bay a sense of belong was important but adults had to show young people respect and understand their needs.
Dr Frank McField raised his concerns over the fact that the gang issue in Cayman was not being addressed which he said had been festering for years. He said the gangs now control the schools and there was a need to recruit from those gangs people who can help address the problem but there are no quick solutions to the social problems facing young people which had developed over a long period and could not addressed over night. “We need preventative policies we don’t have people working with the gangs,” he said adding that people ignore these things until they are impacted and then they complain. He also said, “There has to be a real strategy to address the alienation of young people which the courts and police have helped to intensify.”
Most of the candidates said restoring the strength of the family and the disconnect between the youth and the community were important goals.
RCIPS Commissioner candidates line up
(CNS): Update 5:00 pm: A staff member of the Public Affairs office of the Savannah-Chatham Metro Police has confirmed that their Police Chief Michael Berkow (left) is in the running for the position of Police Commissioner in the Cayman Islands, though she told CNS, when asked to confirm that he had applied for the job, that rather he had been approached by someone from the Cayman Islands, but declined to say who that person was. In 2005, the former head of the Los Angeles Police Department’s internal affairs unit faced a sexual harassment law suit by female LAPD officer Ya-May Christle, and while the suit was dismissed, she was awarded $1 million in damages from the LAPD for retaliating against her for bringing the suit.
Also on the shortlist is female Detective Superintendent with the British Transport Police Ellie Bird; Richard Cullen, Head of the Probation Area Co-ordination Unit in the Home Office; and Cheshire’s Assistant Chief Constable David Baines, to whom CNS offers a sincere apology as he is not the Baines facing an enquiry over a potential wrongful murder conviction as stated earlier.
Along side these candidates is the current Acting Commissioner James Smith, who failed to secure the position when he interviewed in 2005, and Richard Brunstrom, the Chief Constable of North Wales.
Following the revelations yesterday by CNS that Brunstrom, who has been dubbed the “Mad Mullah of the Traffic Taliban” because of his campaign against speeding motorists, had made the list, it has now been revealed that Berkow who is currently serving with the Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan (Georgia) Police faced a law suit by a long serving female officer from the LAPD.
Ya-May Christle had served seventeen years when she claimed she was demoted after complaining that Berkow had been giving female officers preferential treatment in exchange for sexual favours. The suit was dismissed by Superior Court Judge Haley Fromholz, who said he did not find enough evidence that the Berkow, who was a deputy chief at the time, had discriminated against five officers.
Depositions given to the court, which were opened after the Los Angeles Times filed a motion to request that the sealed document be made public, revealed that Berkow had been involved with a fellow female sergeant officer but had denied that he promoted her or was directly involved in her supervision.
In the deposition, Michael Berkow, who is married, said he met Sgt. Andrea Balter in 2003 and had sex with her over the next three years. Until January 2005, she worked for theinternal affairs division as an advocate, a kind of internal prosecutor handling police misconduct cases, including those involving inappropriate sexual relationships.
Christie, though the sexual harassment suit was dismissed, was awarded more than $1 million in damages after a jury found that the LAPD retaliated against her for complaining about Berkow. They rejected Christie’s claims that she was the victim of racial discrimination and that her protections under the Peace Officers Bill of Rights were infringed upon.
Aside from this most recent claim, Berkow has reportedly been named in at least six suits.
Meanwhile, besides sending Christmas cards to crime suspects reminding them that the police are watching, David Baines is a scuba diver and is not the UK police officer also named David Baines who is at the centre of a growing controversy of an old murder case as reported in The Times on 26 February.
Ellie Bird, who has 26 years service and is Vice President of the British Association for Women in Policing, has worked in uniform, detective and headquarters roles as well as Operations Superintendent on London Underground. Bird who was reportedly placed on the list after a Canadian candidate allegedly dropped out also has experience in policing child abuse and domestic violence investigations, as well as public protection and serious crime. In a recent article for international women’s day she noted there was still a long way to go regarding gender abuse. “Many people still believe discrimination, physical, mental and sexual abuses are no longer significant issues affecting millions of women across the world – clearly we still need to educate,” she said.
Richard Cullen a former Chief Superintendent with the Metropolitan Police and now serving as Head of the Probation Area Co-ordination Unit in the Home Office, learned to dive in 2007 for a charity event. He has also been something of a TV personality following his involvement in a BBC documentary which aimed to discover who killed Rasputin. An academic, Cullen previously served as the director of training and development at the UK police training college in Hendon and has trained officers overseas, including Russia. He has written a number of publications regarding frontline leadership.
Given that the Acting Commissioner is only on contract until June and most senior officers would require a notice period of two months, it is anticipated that an announcement as to who will be taking up the top cop job with the RCIPS will be made very soon. The vacancy for the senior RCIPS post came in the wake of the suspension of three senior police officers followed by the dismissal of Commissioner Stuart Kernohan. Acting Commissioner Smith was the third man in post since March 2008 when it was revealed that a Special Police Investigation Team (SPIT) from Scotland Yard was in the Cayman Islands investigating alleged corruption in the RCIPS and the judiciary.
Taskforce recommends new law to ministry
(CNS): After almost four years of work, the Stalking and Sexual Harassment Taskforce has provided recommendations to the Ministry of Health and Human Service to help it form legislation offering victims much needed protection from this kind of abuse, which is common in the Cayman community. Joannah Bodden Small, the Chair of the taskforce, said that following considerable analysis of the research and comparative data, the taskforce was hopeful that laws would be enacted that would offer meaningful protection.
Small explained that government now had the Legislative Recommendations, the Survey Report the Research Report and the video documentary "Protect Cayman", with the goal of helping the ministry create the framework for the necessary new laws . “We have requested that our recommendations be considered by the government with a view to implementing new laws to protect victims of stalking and sexual harassment in the Cayman Islands,” she said.
Small added that aside from the original survey results and the research report, the committee had submitted information which contained a summary of Cayman’s existing legal regime and a review of 11 jurisdictions that have legislated on the issues.
“The Survey Report concluded that both stalking and sexual harassment were indeed occurring in the Cayman Islands, with 1 in every 2 respondents experiencing some form of stalking as described in the survey and 2 in every 5 respondents experiencing some form of sexual harassment as described in the survey,” Small added.
The Survey Report confirmed an overwhelming support for legislation against stalking and sexual harassment with 92.7% of those who took part stating they supported legislation being implemented against stalking and 94.6% of supporting legislation against sexual harassment.
“We hope that our arguments for the implementation of new legislation, and the manner in which such legislation should be approached, will be persuasive and actioned as soon as possible,” Small said.
The need for new and separate legislation is based on a number of issues, not least the fact that when incidents were reported to them, the Family Support Unit of The RCIPS said their power to address complaints of harassment and stalking was limited to where the complaints fell within an existing offence in Cayman’s laws.
This has often meant exercising powers under laws that were not specifically designed to deal with the issues, such as the Information and Communications Authority Law, which contains provisions for use of an ICT network or ICT service to abuse, annoy, threaten or harass another.
“The police have expressed frustration that the absence of laws on our books designed specifically for stalking or sexual harassment have rendered them powerless in certain situations where they wished to be of assistance but did not have the power to lawfully assist,” Small stated.
“An increased awareness of the negative impact of stalking and sexual harassment in the Cayman Islands is the first step towards eradicating these problems in our society. There are more and more reports of victims coming forward to confront the perpetrators and take action against them where possible.”
She noted that legislation was important but it must also be coupled by society’s understanding of the issues and a zero tolerance approach towards stalking and sexual harassment in the wider community as often people did not see that their behaviour amounted to harassment or stalking.
“The creation of the Gender Affairs unit demonstrates government’s willingness to provide the focus and perspective needed to properly review issues such as stalking and sexual harassment. The Ministry of Health and Human Services has expressed its support for our project from the project’s inception and indicated its willingness to collaborate with the Taskforce so far as possible to incorporate our recommendations into the priories government is developing for the subject area of gender affairs,” Small said.
The taskforce was looking forward to assisting the Gender Affairs unit and the Ministry in any way possible that will help victims, she added.
Accused in Scott-Roberts’ murder allocated lawyers
(CNS): The two men accused of murdering Estella Scott-Roberts appeared in court for the second time on Thursday 6 November and a date has been set of 17 November for the preliminary issues. The two men have now been allocated lawyers to represent them throughout the proceedings and both were remanded in custody. On 30 October Larry Prinston Ricketts (25) and Kirkland Henry (27-left) were charged with the murder of Estella as well as robbery and abduction. Henry was also charged with rape.
During their first appearance the two Jamaican nationals, both work permit holders living in George Town employed as a gardener and a carpenter, appeared before Magistrate Margaret Ramsey Hale without legal representation they have since been allocated legal defenders — Lloyd Samson and John Furness will be acting for the men.
According to the Solicitor General, Cheryll Richards, there is significant evidence against both the men for the murder including material evidence, as they were both said to have had possession of Scott-Roberts’ cell phones. She also said there wasforensic evidence against them as well as detailed admissions. The two men are believed to have made confessions however no pleas have yet been submitted to the court by either of the accused.
Estella Scott-Roberts was the former director of the Crisis Centre and a fearless activist against violence in the community. She joined Cable and Wireless as a Communications Manager in 2006, but continued with her work campaigning against violence perpetrated on women and children. She was also a member of the Human Rights Committee and had recently worked with the Sexual Harassment and Stalking Task Force to help introduce a law against these acts.
Her body was found in her own burnt out car in the remote area of Barkers in West Bay on Saturday 11 October. She was last seen leaving Decker’s restaurant after having dinner with friends around 11-11:30 pm. Her car was eventually found after an extensive search involving, friends, family, the Department of Environment and the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service.
The news of her death sent shock waves through the community and fuelled extensive speculation over the motivations and potential perpetrators of Scott-Roberts violent death. Despite the distractions of the rumour mill which suggested her death could have been connected to her work, the police persisted with their lines of enquiry and arrested Kirkland and Henry on Monday, 27 October. Once the police announced they were charging the men with her murder, they said they were no longer able to make any comment. So far no motive has been officially offered for the crime and there is no indication whether Scott-Roberts was known, or not known, to either of the accused men.