Police to review procedures in wake of missed bullet
(CNS): Following the revelation yesterday that one of the bullets fired by burglars as they shot their way into a local store had been left behind by scenes of crime officers, the police said a “review of the circumstances” was underway. A bullet which was discovered by the store owner on the shelf among the produce after the SoC officers had left was captured (left) by local photographer Dennie Warren Jr. Chief Superintendent John Jones said procedures would be addressed where needed but the primary focus was on catching the offenders. The owner of the Reflections store which was targeted by the four masked gunmen on Thursday morning says he is offering a $5000 reward for the apprehension.
The aggravated burglary occurred at around 1:30am at the Reflections Food for Less store on Godfrey Nixon Way, Georgetown on 14 October. Four masked men, at least two of whom had guns, shot out the glass door and burst into the shop where they stole cigarettes and the cash register. The crime was caught on CCTV showing several shots being fired through the door which landed in the store one of which was overlooked by the SoC officer.
“A thorough review of the circumstances is being undertaken to establish the cause of this lapse and where lessons need to be learned, or procedures need to be changed, we will ensure that is done. That said, our primary focus is on locating and arresting these offenders,” CS Jones stated, reinforcing the appeal for anyone with any information about this offence to contact George Town CID on 949â€4222 or crime stoppers on 800â€8477 at the earliest opportunity.
Prentice Panton the owner of the store who is no stranger to being the victim of robberies and burglaries said he was putting up a $5000 reward as he said it was deeply troubling and unacceptable for these crimes to keep happening. “The public need to step up and report these people when they know who they are,” he said. (Photos by Dennie Warren Jr) 
Category: Local News
You know what I love about the RCIP, how much they DON’T know about the Cayman Islands Laws! I sincerely believe that each officer should be made to read and be tested on the major laws of the Cayman Islands! If I am ever in the Station I usually find myself educating our trained constables on their misconduct of legal proceedings and under what clause certain matters are addressed within a specific law! I thoroughly believe that Officers should be enrolled into a Legal Studies course which they must pass before becoming a constable, it would save the public some headache!
Have you not heard?? The CoP states that a large portion of the RCIPS is FUNCTIONALLY ILLITERATE…stands to reason they would be hard pressed to actually learn the law if they can’t read or write…
When I called the police because I was broken into (but only found out a day later) they wouldn’t come becuase they said the fingerprints were too old.
I could see them on the gutter!!! My windows had recently been cleaned so those prints would have only been the thief!
Too old? Hahahahaha!!
They broke into 3 different neighbors thru-out the next 2 weeks. Now we have to leave windows boarded up on one side fo the house. (Can’t afford bars on them)
so much for being discreet! Im no theif/robber but to my knowledge they’re usually quite, or at least try to be…obviously these robbers have a extremely low IQ because common sense would tell them that firing a GUN in the dead of the night would attract attention if they were no police around or witnesses around im sure the gun fire would have surely raised some eye brows, they were obviously some crack heads from around the corner looking for a quick fix, how do i know this ? their first concern was not to get the most expensive things in the store like tv’s or other electronics they just wanted ciggarettes, pretty desperately if you asked me…i bet you any thing these guys DONT shower regularly and are probably wearing the same clothes!
let’s not forget to mention tha fact that the incident happened apr. 1:30 am police showed up for a few mins and stated they were comin bak at 8:30 the following morning to do their investigation…and you wonder why nothing in Cayman gets solved?
they would rather wait 7 hours for fingerprints to deteriorate or for someone to go trouble/move things and contaminate the crime scene?
get real RCIPS…
Let’s not forget the copy of the video tape that the police also left behind! This was specifically prepared for them to take when they arrived … imagine that one!
08:14
You seem to be very angry with the Governement and Police. The people in office are there because they were elected. The Police are there because they were hired. There was a process. No one just threw them in place. The English and the local VOTING population has all had a hand in the people that are in place in one way shape or form. They seem to be doing the best that they can. There are many problems – you do not have to have a lick of sense to see that. Things are not ideal, no doubt. But nothing is perfect and people make mistakes. The arm chair quarter backing is great, but to point fingers at everyone is taking it too far. It is high time that people start to see their a– from their face. The population is not something to be admirred or proud of. The kids are not productive, like the rap channel way too much, emulate gangsters, parents are just plain useless, and then everyone is pointing the finger at the Government or the Police. Nice but come on…..Get real. They did not cause this. The whole world is not in good shape. The economy is poor in most places. That is the reality. Cayman is not in a bubble and not feeling this. The problem is that the younger part of the population needs to be in a zoo with the other animals. We do not have one here. This is real. Not a mistake made by the Police. They did not shoot the glass out, they did not steal – someone’s son did. Mistakes are there to be made and learned from. Move onto something else. You can find many things in this whole saga that there were many mistakes made. Find you will what you seek, when you start seeking for the what you are looking for without prejudice or favor; only then you will see what the color of the roses really are. The problem is most people are not willing to do that, and then they are blinded by their own eyes that can see if they would only take the blindfold off. S— or get off the pot.
"Procedures would be addressed"…."primary focus on catching the offenders" ????…. say what?? That is some pathetic excuse at attempting to deflect there man!!
WTF…what a mess!!! This is just too dumb.
Just try for once owning the screw up and making someone accountable!!
This just proves how with the crime situation that is current and growing daily, you cannot depend on the Police to respond and conduct a criminal investigation that will bring closure to the matter, nor prevent it from taking place in the first place. All businesses need to protect their property – they need to put in preventitive measures before the crimes take place. As much as no one is going to like this, this is our reality, our way of life at the present and is just an added cost of doing business today in these Islands. In the US the Supreme Court has ruled that the Police are not there to protect any one person. How can they be? What the problem is in Cayman is everyone is looking at the Police to stop crimes – they cannot. They prove this almost daily. They cannot investigate them right either. They proved this also. They are claiming to do all they can, and if this is not enough for people, then you need to adapt and protect yourself. Do not make yourself a victim. You cannot change the way the Police operate, so move on to doing something that you can change. I am not talking doing anything illegal, or taking the law into your own hands, but it is high time that the moaning about the RCIP stops. They are over-whelmed for whatever reasons and that is the reality. We can pick fun at them, but it is what it is.
See link below for the full video coverage with audio of the robbery.
http://reflections.ky/about-us/99.html
Licensed security guards should be trained in the use of firearms and armed with shotguns, whith the right to defend themselves and the property they are protecting. The sooner we rid society of these lunatics the better off we will be. The current policies in place aren’t working and we aught to stop burying our heads in the sand, cause the only thing we are showing is our a–es. It is time to deal with this cancer head on.
Likewise, decent, law-abiding citizens should also have the privilege of owning a firearm to protect their homes and businesses. Criminals don’t abide by laws and act without restraint and these days it seems like they can act with impunity, while the law only applies to those who abide by it.
MLAs, deal with the problem.
If they wont’ arm the police, what makes you think they will arm licensed security guards??? Remember there are only 15 known criminals that need to be watched. Has anyone forgotten that speech by the commissioner?
Looking at that picture, they don’t appear to be from our culture, but then again, there is so much mix up, mix up these days it’s hard to tell who dey family is.
Whats your culture?… Come, Come on… start your nationality bashing… Stop living in denial and wake up!
I know of a departed patriot, bless his soul, who, as he witnessed our then stalwart education system being dismantled in the late 70’s by political interference, predicted "you will have hard times ahead, this island will soon be run by idiots". He didn’t just mean the political runnings; civil service, RCIPS all qualify.
Without doubt that prediction has come to pass.
When will RCIPS stop making excuses for its inept failures!!!! They have a lame excuse for every time they screw up!
This kind of ineptness encourages criminals; they know how poorly their crimes will be investigated, reducing the chances of ever being caught.
The public is getting fed up of not being ‘served and protected’. Vigilantism is around the corner and not everyone will be using a cow cod !!
You have a Service that is over 300 man strong. They are always touting how they are becoming more modern, but all I see is sloppy Police Work from the start to the end. Response is poor, investigations are poor, the whole service is bordering true redundency. People cannot depend on the Police and must take their own protection needs into their own hands. I am not talking criminal actions but we all need to be in charge of our own safe being.
This isn’t the Polices fault, SoC is very busy with the crime wave that has hit Cayman. This type of thing happens on all major police forces from time to time.
GIVE ALL OF US A BREAK!!!!!!!! Come on now, you really cannot be defending such gross negligence and frankly dereliction of duty?!!!!! You must be a Police officer and or related to make such an asinine and befuddling statement. This is what is utterly wrong with this community. People, be they family members of criminals or police officers fail to use sound judgment and merely cover up their ills at every opportunity such as you are doing in this matter.
"That said, our primary focus is on locating and arresting these offenders"
Yes…Primary Focus….so lets just leave the evidence laying around for for anyone interested! BRILLIANT!!
What’s to be reviewed? The "scenes of crime officers" are utterly and completely useless. Review closed!
Seriously…
Say 7 shots make 7 holes in the door, so you look for 7 bullets more or less in straight lines between where the shooter was standing and through the bullet holes in the door. [On TV they use nice straight sticks to show the bullet paths – very educational all that TV is.]
Say 7 shots only make 5-6 holes in the door – presumably you would be looking for bullets in the general area of, oh, say, um, maybe, a straight line between where the shooter was standing and on through the bullet holes in the door. See a hole? Look for a freaking bullet!
Dick Flippin’ Tracy
Wait, correct me if I am wrong, didn’t the same thing happen in West Bay where those cars and house got shot up????
RCIPS Reply:
Evidence?? Evidence!! We don need no STINKIN’ evidence!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaxURLFn6jU
To Dick Tracy
Yes this was not a shining example of police forensic work. However your comments demonstrate typical naivety in the complexities of such matters. 7 holes in the door mean 7 bullets does it – it was a glass door that shattered when hit genius- try counting the holes in that! Bullets travel only in a straight line do they? Really? Ever heard of richochet? No? Then look it up!!!
In an ideal world with no outside influences all evidence would be recovered from all crime scenes, in this case i imagine that the store would have wanted to re open as quickly as possible to minimise the financial impact on the business. With the size of the store an the time and resources available i am not suprised a bullet was missed.
As i said – not great from the RCIP but it is very easy to be an arm chair Dick Tracy throwing critiscism around .
and before you all start, no i am not RCIP, just a realist who thinks before he types 🙂
This is an absolute disgrace and the SECOND time that these so called "forensic experts" have left bullets at the scene of a shooting in recent months.
Anyone remember the house that was shot up in West Bay where they left bullets there and claimed they were returning to pick them up once CUC had fixed the metert box?
It is no wonder that all the murder cases / those involving shootings are botched when they go to court.
But then again when the so called cheif forensics examiner is out on the stand during a murder trial and tells the defence attorney he "is not very good with detail", what more are we to expect.
How can you leave something as important as this at the scene of a crime?
Supposed they caught these guys with a weapon and couldn’t comapre the bullets fired because they forgot spent bullets at the scene.
XXXXXX
Mr. Panton,
As a member of the public, I just want to say "Thank You" for putting out the CCTV footage. This is long overdue for crimes, especially firearm crimes, and to date no bank has had the foresight or **lls to put out their footage. I am hopeful and optomistic it will help catch these cowards.
See link below for the full video coverage with audio of the robbery.
http://reflections.ky/about-us/99.html
Well since they are reviewing this robbery the previous two robberies where robbers left their backpack in the parking lot which was point out to the Police and they left at the scene and the bullet fragment at the other store by the airport. No Dennie Warren the whole RCIPS high command needs to be sacked and the individuals should be charged for obtaining a salary under false pretense. How long Cayman are we going to put up with this level of incompetence. This is the problem the whole system is full of these good old boys covering each others A@$.