No night time access to Barkers
(CNS): As part of a crime prevention strategy, Barkers area in West Bay will be closed to the public every evening from 6:30 pm to 6:00 am the following day. Police say that the decision, which came into force Thursday 12 March, has the full support of the landowners. “It is important for us as a police department to do everything possible to try and prevent crime and we ask the community to work with us in this endeavour,” said West Bay Area Commander Chief Inspector Angelique Howell.
“Our decision to close Barkers is a temporary crime prevention strategy that we are employing until other measures, to address community concerns of criminal activity in the area, can be put in place. We would like to thank the landowners who have responded quickly and positively to these measures. We will regularly review our position on the closure of this area and ask that persons work with us to make West Bay a safer community,” Howell added.
Anyone with information about crime taking place in the Cayman Islands should contact their local police station or Crime Stoppers on 800-8477 (TIPS). All persons calling crime stoppers remain anonymous, and are eligible for a reward of up to $1000, should their information lead to an arrest or recovery of property/drugs.
Category: Headline News
Is we still allowed to dump our garbage there? In the daytime we can still dump there right?
maybe they should just lift the ban for the Easter camp out weekend and when that’s over, then put the ban back on? however i have heard of some people who been camping out there for many years that they don’t camp out there anymore because of some of their belongings being stolen out there. So, who knows if it is even safe to camp out there anymore? But gosh, it would be bad also to take that culture away. Hard to choose which way to go in dangerous times like these?
Can you please tell me what the West Bay People are going to do during the Good Friday and Easter Holiday.
That area is always full of people who overnight from Wednesday or Thursday before until Easter Monday.
Where would we all go now???????????????????????????
This will not deter criminal activity in the West Bay district or in the Island at all. This closure will allow the firearm and drug smugglers whom visit our shores on a weekly basis, to now utilize this area which will be free of public activity and limited Police presence.
With decreasing patrols in this area by land, sea, and limitations from the air, and with no public presence to report anything suspicious, it will be created into a smugglers paradise. I know this particular area extremely well which has a substantial area of coast line from the north, east, and south. I spent many nights and early mornings on various police operations in this area. If fact, we had a number of successful seizures, arrest and convictions stemming from the Barkers area over the years. However, in those days, we had many committed and fearless police officers and despite a lack of financial resources, we were never the less strongly supported by our "High Command" in our efforts and equipped accordingly.
Unfortunately today, the "High Command" in the " Ivory Tower" of Elizabethan Square have incorporated policing strategies that are totally unrealistic and incompatable with dealing in Serious Crimes in the Caribbean. Instead, they only give " Lip Service" to the public in the amount of minor crimes and violations that police arrest and detect. I have to chuckle to myself when press releases from the RCIPS such as " Quick Arrest Following Serious Incident" or "Person Arrested and Assisting with Enquiries" but yet I read of no follow up on charges being filed or convictons achieved.
It reminds me so much of the Police Operations Command in the (JCF) Jamaica Constabulary Force that took place several years back. Following increases in police budgets and guarantees to decrease Homicides, Serious Assaults, Robberies, Rapes, Abductions, Extortions etc, today they claim that their role was merely to " Modernize the JCF", after seeing such dismal results in the end.
I suppose the RCIPS have become "Extremely Modernized" as well, in the last 5 years or so !!!!!!
I suggested many ideas to tackle Serious Crimes in the Cayman Islands when "the kitty" was full of funds provided by the PPM government which we did not have in our day, but was in many ways told that I was no longer part of the newly formed "Syndicate" that had a new Strategic Plan for the RCIPS.
Amazing how things can change so drastically in a relatively short space of time thereafter. Members of the "Syndicate" have either jerked the carpet from under one another, been fired, refuse to accept higher responsibilty and promotion due to being "thin skinned" or seek every which way they can to quietly resign to the private sector or transfer to other Government departents.
Well, happy to say, they never made " un burro" (donkey) out of me, can you say the same for yourself ?????
Shaun Ebanks.
I agree, that all the more reason to go down there now and do there devil work, Since no Police willnot be patroling the are since its supposed to be closed of!!
Is this really going to deter criminals? Do you think they are going to pay any mind to this ‘closure’. How is it going to be enforced? The Cops will be too scared to go down there anyway and they are far too busy looking for cars with blue lights and checking licence coupons.
The real answer is for the RCIPS to shape up and do some proper crime prevention by proper policing.
Are we going to close all the other trouble spots like the night clubs too?
I would like to congratulate Area Commander Howell for implementing this area curfew. This was something that should have been done even before the tragic passing of Mrs. Scott-Roberts. As a society are we all going to sit back, and await a similar occurrence before taking futher action?
I suggest that more Police presence be seen, as Officers can do more patrols within their assigned communities, and acquainting themselves with residents.
Keep up the good work Chief Inspector Howell and to other Senior members of staff who work diligently, to make sure that our islands are kept safe.
This here is another knee jerk reaction by the RCIP and cop out to proactive policing. Closing Barkers is not affecting the criminals but taking honest people’s freedom from them, the criminals will move somewhere else, it is time to refocus on eliminating these criminals as we all know padlocks only keep out honest people.
I have driven around the whole Island and seen groups of individuals hanging out on street corners, under trees, on our public beaches,outside bars/nightclubs and the police drive by numerous times with their windows up and ignore them. Why not stop ask names,do random searches and in some cases ask them to move on. Statistics will show that we have just as many deaths by violence as we do drunk driving yet we have more stop and smells than we have stop,search and tells, is this because they are afraid of these groups?
Is it easier to close nightclubs or have police stop in and make their presence be known? We as members and good citizens should have at least one police officer as a close friend who we trust and can pass information to without fear. I know together we all can put criminals out of business but the RCIP needs to be more proactive and wage war against crime.