RCIPS still at UCCI Brac campus
(CNS): The Cayman Brac RCIPS has been based in the UCCI building opposite the District Administration building in Stake Bay ever since Hurricane Paloma hit the Brac about 8 months ago, when the police station at the Creek was heavily damaged. The roof was torn off and the interior of the building received a lot of damage. To this day, the station is still in its broken state. The UCCI campus has a total of 6 class rooms, 2 of which the RCIPS are currently occupying.
Obviously this decreases the amount of space available for classes, but it wasn’t that much of a problem for the academic year just passed, according to Campus Director, Martin Keeley. “The upcoming year however is expected to be a lot busier and the space issue will definitely pose a problem” he said.
Keeley said, “In September we are going to have about 50 new students coming in, added to the 30 or so Civil Service students and the 100 second year students, and that’s about 180 students.” He noted that one classroom can hold about 15 people.” While it’s understood that classes won’t happen all at once, 4 rooms amongst 180 students just isn’t enough. “We will have a problem in September. We need to solve it,” were the words of a concerned Keeley.
According to a police spokesperson, the RCIPS themselves are not responsible for the funding of the repair. However, the government has earmarked some money for repairing the police station in the Creek. Floor plans have already been drawn up and construction is believed to begin shortly. CNS understands that the building isn’t owned by government. We tried to contact government on the matter of whom it belongs to and if the government bought it, but have not yet received a reply.
Currently the RCIPS have a Service Level Agreement with UCCI and they pay the college $4,200 per monthfor the use of the space plus utilities. The RCIPSs suffer from lack of space as well. There aren’t any holding cells and the prisoners must be kept around until they can get on a flight to Grand Cayman. While they have areas for evidence and equipment, there isn’t enough space for it all.
The Police Station is still damaged and it seems as if nothing is being done to it. Save for a few pieces of tarpaulin no repairs have been done. It seems that repairs aren’t going to be finished anytime soon and it is highly doubtful that the RCIPS will move out before the new semester begins.
Category: Local News
Is the government seriously paying 4,200 to rent two rooms?! Not only is the government retarded for paying this much, but the community college should be ashamed of themselves for charging this much! All I can say is…wowwww.
The police needs to go! have anyone thought that seriously about a hostage situation occurring on the campus with someone who has been arrested! how are persons being detained? why must the new students now have to suffer. how secured are the GUNS that are stored on the campus from getting into the wrong hands!!!
The government should have fixed that police station from long time but clearly they did not think ahead of themselves… Now what is going to happen to the education for the students in the following semester… they should be charged 4200 for taking up valuable space that is supposed to be for the future youth of the cayman islands… And what if they were to bring in some drunk people to the station in the middle of the day while class is goin on? the students and staff of UCCI would also be at risk
This is incredible. It is almost a yearsince Hurricane Paloma and the police station is still not repaired? There must have been money allocated for this repair in the budget.7
I personally feel that we should consider relocating the police station fromit’s current location. It would be best to source out a piece of land on top of the bluff and build a brand new station. Cayman Brac could do with a new one. I know that funds are limited, but we have to do something. For too long Cayman Brac is neglected in certain aspects.
Take a look at the current police stations location. It is small, cramped, and the location is certainly not suitable for a police station. Put it on top of the bluff. It will be safe from storms and can be a safe haven in a hurricane for the staff on duty.
Just my two cents on the matter.
Now that it is crunch time they have put the plans out to bid. However, it is always done rush rush. The plans were only available on June 29th and the contractors have only been given until July 10th to get bids in – ALSO they are asking the impossible for the building to be completely done in 6 weeks. Why can’t they be realistic – no way – they will just award the contract in the rush to some big shot Grand Cayman contractor who of course wont be able to finish it in the time specified but who cares – they are more professional than the brac builders so we will just work with them and give them all the extension and time that they need to get the job done. Once again no accountablity in the government.
At least the facilities are now being used for something. It was a poor idea to put a campus on the Brac when they could take advantage of distance education and/or online leanring options.
What a silly statement. If it is better to "take advantage of distance education and/or online leanring options" why is there a UCCI campus at all? Why don’t the students in Grand Cayman only study rather than have the expense of a campus?
Is the government seriously paying 4,200 to rent two rooms?! Not only is the government retarded for paying this much, but the community college should be ashamed of themselves for charging this much! All I can say is…wowwww.
Why shouldn’t they charge the police department to use these two rooms? Do you have any idea what the monthly rental is for that building – it is about CI$14,000 per month – if the college is not getting the use of the rooms then whoever is should be required to pay the rent. These two entities are completely separate and have separate budgets. The college is certainly not making any money off of the police department they are just getting help in paying their monthly rent for two rooms that they are not being able to utilise.