Junior jewel thieves strike in daylight grab
(CNS): Police are appealing for information after a group of young jewel thieves swiped a collection of earrings, bracelets, rings and necklaces from a George Town store on Monday afternoon. Police said that a group of girls and boys two of which were wearing school uniforms grabbed the jewels and fled from the Edward Street store at about 3pm. Police said that while some of the group engaged the saleswoman in conversation others suddenly grabbed the Swarovski jewellery from a display stand and were last seen running towards the Thompson building and into a black four door Honda civic.
The saleswoman was not injured in the incident and no weapons were used and the suspects are described as being a group of young males and females, two of them were wearing John Grey High School uniforms. Inspector Dane Pinnock is appealing for anyone who has any information about the crime, or who is offered any of the stolen items for sale, to contact the police.
“I would urge business owners and sales staff to be on their guard,” said Inspector Pinnock. “We call these types of incidents ‘distraction thefts’; that means that the perpetrators will work in teams and while some of the group distract the salesperson through conversation or by causing an incident in the store, others commit theft.
He asked managers to e work with their in-store security to ensure that staff members are safe and that a watchful eye is kept on any valuable property.
“Try to make sure that property is kept in locked display cases and that during busy periods you increase staff numbers, particularly if you have high value items on display. Finally, ensure that your CCTV cameras are working and are placed in the right locations,” he said.
“ We have increased or patrols in the centre of George Town and the golden rule is that if you are suspicious of anyone then please contact the police. Anyone who handles stolen goods could potentially face 14 years behind bars – remember that if you are offered a cut price deal on a shiny new piece of jewellery!”
Anyone with any information about the theft of the property, the suspects, or who has been offered jewellery for sale in last few days, is asked to contact George Town police station 949 – 4222 or Crime Stoppers 800-8477 (TIPS)
Category: Local News
Calling the children "scum" is harsh but i guess you see it as it comes. I agree to most of the comments / post of this article.
The parents of and the children that committed the crime should serve so type of sentence (Community Service) which would show that the parents are not trying to bring up their child the right way but yet the parents rather be out and about at a night club and or bars not having any thoughts of what their child or children or up to.
As a young Father i have learned and still learning something if you dont discipline and hear them crying in their room than when the get of age where you cant help them because they are their own man or woman and the commit a crime you as that parent probably would be home crying and wondering why or what made them do something like that.
The other thing that strikes my mind is these young children believe that they are big and bad and nobody can touch them, well i am going to give a scenario what if a child decide to try and rob a store and the store own decides to fight back to protect his store and his lively hood and the child gets severely .hurt or possible dead God forbidden it happens what are the parents going to say i believe they will not be able to say nothing.
I really blame the parents for for this kind of behavior,,, I am so sick and tired of hearing these parents upholding their stupid children, who half of them cant even read and are in midldle and high school. if the reachers tell them about their brats misbehaving in school( that’s if they evn show up on a regular basis) the parents are ready to curse and fight the teachers!.. The parents are certainly the blame! they need to stop running up and down the streets at all hours of the nights, bar hopping, and going after each other’s man, stop texting on thier blackberry’s that they cant even use to make a real call, all they can afford to do with them is text,,, becuase that’s free!
there really are some sorry ass mother’s and father’s here on this island… come on raise your children or dont have them, no body esle wants to be bothered with them if you their own parents dont want to.. they need to start locking up their parents then maybe they’ll learn some sense and stop having these unwanted bad ass kids.. porr teacher’s they dont pay you guys half of what they should !!!,
they really should lock up their stupid good for nothing parents……!! then that may just help……
I so surprised that Rollie and Big [Mac] has not even found the time to address the incidents, time after time. It is time for our over-paid Missing-link Ministers and uneducated Premier to step up to the plate, find solutions, and institute programs, which will encourage our children/young adults to cultivate self -esteem. You only have to look at the way they dress and carry themselves. The old saying was and still is, ‘show me your company and I’ll tell you, who you are’. There is a lot that can be learnt from that quote.
I was across the street in the BNS parking lot and saw the boy running out of the store – he was wearing the JGHS uniform – white shirt, grey pants. He came flying out of the store giggling his head off – the girls were ahead of him and he pushed them to run faster. He was a tall, skinny, scrawny thing and couldn’t be more than 16 years old – the girls were chubby and looked older and they too were laughing.
You could see that this was the greatest high of this child’s life – he’ll be back out there doing it again soon enough.
It’s time for parents to stop being so damn slack and letting their kids get away with this badness – time to step up and be a parent! And don’t go down to the schools busting on the teachers for disciplining your child – you were bad, pushed back, broke the rules when you were a kid – what makes you think YOUR child doesn’t do the same?
Bring back the paddle, leather strap, ruler and tamarind switch in the schools! I got every one of them at some time or another – still see the teachers around that gave them to me too – it did nothing but teach us right from wrong – that there are consequences for your actions!
And before anyone starts – yes, I know there were abuses but there are still are today even w/o the corporal punishment – just turn on the news any day of the week.
If they catch these children make them clean up the side of the roads in full view of their peers every day over the summer holidays. Get up pre dawn and go & work with our under appreciated garbage men. Go to the Pines and to the Hospitals to work with housekeeping changing bedpans, sheets and doing laundry.
Stop mollycoddling these damn kids – they’re tough – they can handle it! We did!! Stop teaching them that they can get something for nothing.
Come on parents – STEP UP!
I agree with you "Right ya so" and I am sure you did your civic duty to help combat crime by giving a full witness statemet of what you saw to the RCIPS right?!?!
Yes, I did!
Teenagers who are engaged and who also have self-respect do not do things like this. There needs to be an outlet for "at-risk" teens. The more activities held at the schools and neighborhoods the less crime on the streets. (camps, programs, sports, arts, dance, computers, boys & girls clubs, boating programs etc. ). A simple solution is tie it in to poor academics and make it mandatory.
Ouch!!! I can feel the sting of that tamrind switch now!!!
The parents will feel the same sting when they are paying the legal bills. When caught a good 5 years in jail will take the giggle right out of these young "popp-y-shows".
I hope they also have to forfeit the vehicle used in the heist and the proceeds will go to a charity!!
Have any of you stopped to think that maybe part of the reason these children are perpretrating petty crimes is because people like this poster keeps referring to them as ‘scum’. Stop talking about children as if they are animals. That’s step one. Get off your high horse as if you never did anythign wrong in your life.. that’s step two. by the way, reading and posting on CNS all day while at work is also theft….. scum.
I agree the children should be found (easily) and punished. But 5 years in jail for this kind of theft? come on. We need strong deterrent, but lets not lose our sense of justice and punishment fitting crime because we don’t like what is happening in the country and we are scared. I remember when we called for mandatory 10 year sentences for guns and then kids started getting sentenced for spear guns and bb guns and guns that were so rusted even a blind man could see that they could never fire a bullet. Punish them yes. Become like Natzi Germany, or Saddam Hussein’s Iraq… no thank you. Let’s slow down and address the problem, not our fears.
I agree with the poster that said to show the tape (if there is one) to the teachers. I would not agree with walking the store clerk through the school. Why should the majority of students, who are good students be subjected to that. And by the way, school uniforms don’t dissapear when children leave school, so while the two wearing them are likely students, they may not be. Further, one of the other private schools ahve similar uniforms so I would want to know if the store clerk could identify the patch not the colour of the shirt and pants.
Finally, we are going to get nowhere with all of the rock throwing at children. They need punishment yes, but they also need support and too many people would rather sit on CNS calling children scum than to lift a finger to help them.
It is sad and heartbreaking that so many people thought to give this poster a ‘thumbs down’. Can any of us really disagree with what the poster has written? I notice that there are also no comments rebutting the poster. Perhaps the ‘thumbs downs’ are because the poster has hurt some with the truth?
No, the thumbs down is cause that is something I do with my two children on a daily basis and not just complain about injustice when my child is accused of a wrong doing.
How about you as a parent (or just a concerned citizen) put in time to deal with the kids. You make assumptions that there is nothing for kids to do. Unfortunately that is not true. I’ve been a basketball and football coach — simply cause I want to be a part of the good things in my kids life.
There are outlets for the kids but they may not want to take them — it takes a parents involvement to motivate a child.
If you aren’t part of your kids life then don’t expect them to be good people!
There are many kids who do not have parents who care about them. They are neglected and abused, sent to school wihtout lunch money, no breakfast, no snacks. Their parents don’t make them do their homework. I read somewhere that kids learning is 80% parents and 20% teachers. Kids who are neglected at home often play up at school and do bad things to get attention. Imagine what life is like for one of them. In trouble at school, ignored and neglected at home with no one to help them and encouragethem. Most children do naughty things. This is what parents are for, to set them straight. If they are left to their own devices, they will get into trouble. I do believe that most teachers do what they can to help the kids if they know they are having problems. But its not always obvious and its part of alcohol and drug abuse to be very secretive about what goes on at home. If you think this just happens to kids at Govt. schools, think again. Just because someone is dropped off at school in a BMW or mercedes doesnt mean that they are treated well at home. Kids need loving parents and yes they should be punished when they do something wrong, but in a loving way, not by abusing them. if you have kids, they take at least 18 years of total commitment. You can’t have kids and work until 9 or 10 everynight, or go to happy hour for 2 or 3 hours after work and leave them with helpers or alone. They need time, love and attention and lots of it.
Look at the "thumbs up" for the call for 5 years in jail and the "thumbs down" for the other view. It is clear that the vast majority of the population have had enough of soft apologist views on criminal punishment.
There is nothing to rebut really it is an opinion. Some of us believe that criminals should be punished severely and that we should stop making excuses about parents etc and say it like it is – that these kids are criminals, decided to be criminals and should be treated like criminals.
Yes, societal factors may increase the chance of criminality. But criminals decide to commit crimes. And therefore they are 100% responsible.
Jail time. That is what is needed.
why do you think these kids tried this?
because they probably know they would get away with it. then again they are kids and probably didnt do the robbery smartly.
but they are children, and you have to admit that the older people of our community who are also committing robberies are not setting a very good example for them.
Swarovski????….geeeez kids was that even worth it?.
Ok, ok, Big whop, so it’s not exaclty diamonds and pearls but still very pretty, and sure does shine better than the real thing.
If there is a closed circuit surveillance video available they probably wont release the images due to the students being minors and the requirement to "protect" their identities…personally I think that is BS*
If there were closed circuit in the store…show the video to the teachers. The teachers would be able to identify them in a heartbeat!!
When you get them, put them in jail for 5 years. Teach these little idiots and their friends a stiff lesson.
I hope this isn’t one of the new education "initiatives".
So just get the saleswoman to do a walk thru of the whole school, in every classroom, and pick out the ‘scum’ that did it. Whomever is not at school knowing this is going on, will be guilty by absence.
This is not rocket science RCIPS!
I wish they would ask me for some help in everyday preventions and ideas on help that they may need.
The kids these days need the leather belt brought back info force to whip these ‘wanna be’ criminals into shape.
If they get away with this, then it sends a strong message to other teens that all you get is a day in court and a mere slap on the hand. Punish them to the full extent of the law. Just like they do in other countries, whereas you cannot travel knowing you have this on your passport. You cannot get into the US with a conviction on your passport, so make it the same for these idiots, penalize them. Make them suffer.
I hope the other ‘scum’ are penalized to the full extent, meaning the ‘MINI PIZZA THIEVES’.
And please, if they do, let us know about it as much as possible so it will send a message to the ‘would be thieves’ that are thinking along the lines of the ‘scum’.
From my understanding, your post doesn’t really work out good with sending the store woman to school and identifying them because I think school’s out for summer now..
Police – There is a box on your desk. It is called a computer. Turn it on. The screen will light up and display images. Click on the Icon that looks like a car. It will give you options. These include colour, make, model, year, number of doors, distinguishing features, license plate number., partial license plate number etc.
Tick those that apply. If you do not know the answer to a particular question, tick next.
When you are done and have filled out as much information as you have, press the magnifying glass icon.
This will cause a search of the database of all vehicles in the Cayman Islands. This database is current because every year you re-license every vehicle. You also have asked carpaint shops (you know, the same ones that install the illegal tint) to inform you when anyone re-paints a vehicle.
Wait a moment. Suddenly, a list headed "results" will appear on your screen. It will have a list under it. The more detail you put in before pressing the magnifying glass icon, the shorter that list will be.
Now, compare that list against the addresses of possible/known young offenders, and also against the addresses of students at the school, (the education department has that on their computer).
If there are any matches, go to the home on the list and make enquiries.
You do have a system that allows you todo that, right? Or do we have to pay for 7 of you to "investigate" for a week to get the same answer?
yeah very smart
bet it took you ages to write that huh?
No, I typed it at 60wpm.
To: Thu, 07/01/2010 – 11:36.
"Police – There is a box on your desk. It is called a computer. Turn it on."
Lots of us type much more than 60 wpm including some of the criminals!!!
Why don’t you volounteer some of your time to the Depts. and help them out since they removed most of the Police from Office work to be out on patrolling duties. Seems like you have a lot of spare time!!
Police won’t solve this crime. I am assuming their is a closed circuit video available, that won’t be released as usual, but yet they will appeal for the publics help and chastise the business owners.