Archive for August 27th, 2010
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.
Government defends radio ban on PPM hosts
(CNS): Following reports by both Lucille Seymour and Denise Miller that they had been told their services were no longer required on Radio Cayman as government felt too many people connected to the opposition were acting as temporary hosts, the government has now defended that position. In a statement released by the premier’s press secretary government said that Radio Cayman is a government owned radio station reporting to an elected member of Cabinet and as a result the hosts must be politically neutral. The government also pointed the finger at the previous administration saying it had established the policy that the host of TalkToday, the show in question, should be a civil servant. (Photo- The current regular host of the show Sterling Dwayne Ebanks by Dennie Warren Jr)
Ireland aims to scoop €40m from offshore accounts
(Herald): The Irish government hopes to collect up to €40m in unpaid tax after special investigations into offshore accounts. Tax officials are on the trail of 1,133 cases in the Cayman Islands, Jersey, Switzerland and Liechtenstein where trusts and offshore structures may have been used to conceal funds.A total of €20m has already been collected in voluntary disclosures and settlements from 100 cases after Ireland’s Revenue gave taxpayers who had undeclared funds an opportunity to make a voluntary disclosure by September 2009. Preliminary investigations have revealed that most offshore trusts were facilitated by third parties such as fund managers, investment advisers and tax consultants.
Government bans junk food from schools
(CNS): Students attending government schools will no longer be allowed to eat fast food on campus. Kids will also be faced with healthier choices on the schools’ own lunch menus as part of government’s goal to improve the health of the country’s young people. The Ministry of Education said it is advancing the fight against childhood obesity and has implemented the Cayman Islands Public Schools: Standards for Food Provision (CISFP) as part of the requirement for canteen contracts, which are publicly tendered. The CISFP document stipulates the healthier meal options that must be offered during lunch and snack breaks in government school canteens and bans junk food deliveries and consumption while children are on campus.
Chuckie’s exit no surprise
(CNS): Members of the opposition party have said they are not surprised by the departure of former tourism minister, Charles Clifford, from the People’s Progressive Movement. Saying he did not want to get into a name calling match with his former Cabinet colleague over the resignation, Alden McLaughlin told CNS that it was not unexpected and had been coming for a long time. In the wake of Clifford’s media announcement criticising the PPM, the opposition leader, Kurt Tibbetts, issued an official statement yesterday on behalf of the whole party. He said that these things were not unusual in politics as there are casualties in the wake of an election, and made no comment about Clifford’s direct criticisms of the party leadership.
Exam results ready for pick up Monday
(CNS): The Department of Education Services (DES) has begun receiving results for the external examinations taken last year, and say that all external examination results can be collected on Monday 30 and Tuesday 31 August, from 9:00 am each day, at the Clifton Hunter (formerly George Hicks) school hall. Results will not be available at the John Gray High School, DES said in a release. While no mention was made of Brac students, CNS understands that students on that island can collect their results from the Cayman Brac High School.
The DES is in the process of collating and analysing results from the following boards: Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) from the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC); General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) from the Assessment and Qualification Alliance (AQA) and Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC); and Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) from Edexcel.
Results from each of these boards are released at different times during the month of August. Upon receipt the DES collates them to develop a complete record for students who have taken exams from multiple boards.
Year 11 students, who will be entering the new Year 12 programme this September, must collect their results, then meet with school counsellors and administrative staff to determine their Year 12 options. Placement in either the Foundation Studies, VoCat or Advanced Placement programme is dependent on examination results.
The educationministry has also announced that government schools have 45 new teachers this school year, seven of whom are Caymanian. The newly- qualified Caymanian teachers are Arek Nicholson, Brittiney Ebanks and Eldon Parchmon, who will respectively teach music, math and social studies at John Gray High School, Sharice McLean, who will teach math at Clifton Hunter High and Carla Ebanks, who will join the East End Primary School team. On the Brac, Kasandra Scott is slated to teach music at Cayman Brac High and Ricardo McLean will teach at the Creek and Spot Bay Infant School. (Below: the new teachers plus, seated from left, Education Ministry Human Resources Manager Peter Beckford; Ministry Chief Officer Mary Rodrigues; Minister Anglin; Chief Education Officer Shirley Whaler; and Acting Learning Community Leader Clive Baker)
Watchdog goes behind scenes of Grand Island funds
(CNS): The Miami based unofficial watchdog of the region’s offshore financial service centres has reported that Cayman Islands-based businessman Naul Bodden (left) has agreed to pay US$3.3 million to settle his liabilities to a fund group he controlled whose investors were defrauded out of US$19 million. In the wake of Robert Girvan’s guilty pleas to 18 counts of theft and 3 of money laundering earlier this month in connection with the group of funds, Offshore Alert is reporting in this month’s newsletter that under the terms of a settlement agreement with the Joint Official Liquidators, Bodden will pay back fees the JOL say were not properly earned. In an in depth report in the fraud and the funds’ collapse, the newsletter goes behind the scenes of the complex case and raises an number of unanswered questions.
Danielle becomes season’s first major hurricane
(CNS): Hurricane Danielle has reached category four status and weather forecasters at the hurricane centre in Miami are warning of dangerous surf around Bermuda. Dnielle now has sustained winds over 135 mph and is travelling north-west at 12 mph. On the current track Danielle is still expected to pass well to the east of Bermuda Saturday night but large waves and swells are expected to impact the island and the East coast of the US tomorrow. The NHC warned the swells are likely to cause dangerous rip currents through the weekend.
WA lease may have strings
(CNS): Acting Premier Juliana O’Connor Connolly has said there is “a distinct possibility” that when government leases the Water Authority, the winning bid will include the development of a water plant on Little Cayman plus a new plant on Cayman Brac’s Bluff, and possibly the extension of piped water on the Brac. Explaining why leasing the authority was necessary, she referred to civil service pay day the day before. “You do not know what it took to get those funds in the bank yesterday,” she said, before taking a dig at the media and headlines suggesting that the Cayman Islands were broke, claiming certain journalists were “going to destroy the country if they keep going in the direction that they are”.
Speaking at the public meeting Thursday morning (26 August), O’Connor Connolly, despite the apparent difficulty paying government workers, described the new $9 million hurricane shelter on Cayman Brac as “an exciting, innovative and necessary project”.
The acting premier, who is also minister with responsibility for District Administration, described the meeting as the first “ministerial clinic”, which she hopes to hold monthly. Answering the first question from a member of the public, which was about the shelter, she said she was “excited to share the truth”. The shelter will be built on 18 acres of land already owned by the government plus an additional three acres purchased from Garston Grant, she said.
Claiming the cost of the completed project will be between $7.5 and $9 million, O’Connor Connolly said the shelter, which will be next to the playing field on the Bluff, will be built in phases as funds are available. The four pods, or wings, which are for the private bedrooms with semi-private bathrooms, allow for a phased construction, the acting premier explained. If funds are available next financial year they will build one pod and if there are more funds, they will build more pods, she said.
The facility will include a medical wing, a laundry, a generator, as well as a proper command centre. There will also be a number of tables in a “cafeteria-style environment” she said, and noted how after Hurricane Ivan people had to stay in the shelters for a protracted time because their homes had been destroyed. “Any community is only as good as it takes care of the most vulnerable,” she added, referring to the elderly, the disabled and children.
The first phase – the main hall – will also be used for indoor sports, she said, suggesting that this was a better investment for young people than paying $60,000 for them to be in prison. The private bedrooms “will provide for the potentiality for use as a hotel training school” and a “residential abode for sports tourism”. The “innovative piece of architecture” will also function as a convention centre, O’Connor Connolly said and claimed, “I have already toughened my skin to receive opposition from within and without.”
Local businessman Elvis McKeever pointed out that Cayman Brac already has 1,800 hurricane shelter spaces as well as houses on the Bluff and there were other things that Cayman Brac needed more, including piped water and dealing with the dump. He also questioned why government was selling off the Water Authority, a money-making entity.
Noting that the authority was not being sold, O’Connor Connolly said it was being used as collateral and would be divested for a period of 25 years. However, government would still have the power to ensure that that the water quality was safe and she said the package would include the current staff, 90% of which was Caymanian.
The Brac water plant was an outstanding matter, but “finally, I get responsibility for water!” she said.
The acting premier explained that the previous minister with responsibility for the Water Authority, Arden McLean, had been persuaded that a water plant in an elevated area of Cayman Brac was necessary,since the current plant is in a depressed area with the risk of the infiltration of saline water to the potable water if it floods in a severe storm. Crown land had been identified and provided on a peppercorn lease for the Water Authority to build a proper bulk water facility on the Bluff (though the project stalled under the previous administration).
After the meeting, CNS asked the minister whether government plans to provide potable water on Little Cayman – an issue that had emerged in public meetings on that island – and a new plant on the Brac, as well as the issue of piped water on the Brac, would be included in the conditions of the lease for the Water Authority. This was “a distinct possibility”, O’Connor Connolly said but “nothing was certain”.
If there was a tie-break in proposals for the lease, she said, they would have to look at the business plans that included these provisions. She said it would depend on what bids came in.
During the meeting O’Connor Connolly bemoaned a 10 cents/ gallon increase in gas on the island, even though no new fuel had arrived, and said she would get the fuel inspector to investigate what was happening.
Amendments to the planning law came under attack by local resident Raymond Scott, who said his business was severely impacted by an “outrageous” increase in the cost of planning permission to remove fill from site to site, which had gone from $100 to $5,000. No one would pay this amount so government would not benefit, he said. Pointing out that this was half the cost of Grand Cayman fees, O’Connor Connolly said this was a matter she had already written to the premier about.
Several people mentioned the bad smell from Salt Water Pond next to the Alexander Hotel. A proposal to develop the pond into a marina had been given Cabinet approval last year, subject to conditions by the departments of Environment and Agriculture, the acting premier said, but the project had not progressed and Cabinet was considering putting time restrictions on the approval.
Scott also said he appreciated the smooth roads, a result of the repaving currently taking place, but wondered if the roads could be widened to 30 feet, rather than 24 feet to accommodate large vehicles. O’Connor Connolly said the shoulders were going to be left in the hope that the Water Authority could pipe water through the island, and also to enhance the shoulders for pedestrians and bicycles.
Ricky Marwick Rankin deported to Cayman Islands
(Miami Herald): US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deported Ricky Marwick Rankin, wanted on probation violation charges in the Cayman Islands.Rankin, 40, was wanted by law enforcement authorities in the Cayman Islands for criminal convictions ranging from attempted murder, burglary, assaulting police, consuming cocaine, assault causing actual bodily harm, damage to property, possession of cocaine, robbery, and possession of unlicensed firearm, according to ICE.On March 29, ICE special agents in Fort Lauderdale learned that Rankin was residing in South Florida.
ICE special agents arrested Rankin in June. On Wednesday, he was removed from Miami International Airport and turned over to the Cayman Islands Police Service at Owens Roberts International Airport in Georgetown, Cayman Islands.