Robber numbers unknown
(CNS): As police charged another suspect robber on Monday in connection with a robbery at a West Bay convenience store last weekend, one RCIPS top officer says it is impossible to say how many more robbers are still out there. Despite the increase in the number of people charged with the crime, robberies are still occurring on a frequent basis and DS Marlon Bodden said they continue to be a mix of organised and opportunistic crimes, with evidence of copycat robbers as well. Bodden said the police view all robberies and all victims as equal, be it a bank or a convenience store, and the most important issue at present is that officers are leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to catch the criminals.(Photo Dennie WarrenJr)
DS Bodden said that the recent success in arresting some of the suspects comes down to a combination of issues, and the public was taking on board many of the crime prevention tips that the police have been circulating. “Swift positive investigative action, enforcement and businesses maximizing the safety of their establishment, customers and employees” have helped, as has the “greater descriptive information emanating from witnesses,” he said, adding that information still varies depending on the age, gender and experience of the witness.
Although the police have made a significant number of arrests recently, Bodden stated that the police are not letting up as there are still a number of robberies that remain unsolved, including three bank robberies over the last year.
“We continue to place quality, investigative focus on all outstanding robberies,” DS Bodden said. “We don’t view one victim as more important than any other; we care about all victims of robberies or serious crimes. Unfortunately, some crimes take much longer to solve than others, and bank robberies sometimes fall within that framework. The important point is that we are not leaving any stone unturned and we are just as anxious to solve these crimes as the public would like to see.”
Bodden said that the bank robberies were obviously more organised as the criminals have to think hard and long about undertaking such a task, but he said police were profiling the crimes, looking at timelines and methods of operation, and he said and they were seeing evidence of copycats and opportunistic criminals.
“Robbery is a time crime, and the robber will use whatever choice of weapon that will yield quick success," he explained as he spoke about the risks robbers were taking with firearms, in some cases for small amounts of money, adding that a robber just doesn’t want to be caught. “That’s the bottom line,” Bodden said. “It will depend on the need and opportunity if a robber will choose to carry a gun,knife or stick. As it relates to value, the equation is high visibility of customers, equals money, equals worth the risk. That’s the motivation for a robber.”
His advice to small businesses was to use their eyes and be aware of what’s going on. “Awareness is the key, they need to always give the appearance that there’s nothing on premises worth stealing,” the senior officer said. Signs stating ‘no money kept on premises’, sharing information with other businesses and neighbours about tackling crime were important tools in preventing crime, he said, as well as reporting suspicious activity and training staff on how to react before, during and after the commission of a crime. He also said business owners should use proper safes and maintain a proper security policy with the aim of developing a culture in their business that encourages everyone to think about security.
In the latest case coming before the courts today (Monday 14 March) police have charged a 32-year-old man with robbery and possession of an imitation firearm in connection with the hold-up at 3N’s grocery store in Batabano Plaza, West Bay. At around 8.00pm on Saturday 5 March a masked man, armed with what witnesses said appeared to be a firearm, entered the store, threatened staff and demanded cash. The suspect then made off from the scene with a small sum of money. No shots were fired and no-one was injured in the incident. The man was arrested just a short time later following a police operation in the district.
Category: Headline News
Thanks DS Boddeen for calling a spade a spade and not sugar coating reality like the CoP. Keep up the good job we’re counting on your honesty and integrity to steer us through these times of surging crime.
Just thanks to DS Bodden.
For the first time in quite sometime a statement from the RCIPS that is not talking foolishness about Rap music and that actually interjects some “tough-talk” and gives the public some very positive insight into how the Police view these crimes. We thought they had all fallen asleep and the Police Comm. was saying: at least it’s not a shooting whenever they happenned.
This is the first statement with confidence and clarity to the public. Thanks DS Bodden.
It’s been, what? About a week since the last robbery? Not too shabby! That’s even includes a Friday night to boot.
Everybody needs a break, even the criminal…lol…
There are local people here like everywhere who are prone to violence. They have a history of violence in their families and a history of violence reoccurring in their time in school. The people need to be identified by authorities as people of interest when violence is used.
In plain view, there is a 30 foot cabin boat moored at Morgan’s Harbour dock whose formerly white hull and white Evinrude outboards have been painted flat black.
There are only two reasons why someone would do this:
(a) To evade detection during criminal nocturnal activities
(b) To look like someone that wants to evade detection during criminal nocturnal activities.
One would hope that the marine unit would be seizing any craft of that description in their efforts to restrict the illegal importation of people, guns, and drugs.
However, it seems that hundreds of people are either turning a blind eye to what is going on, or are so inept that they can’t identify trouble when it is right in front of them!
Marine paint is expensive, so sometimes people simply use the cheapest paint that is available to them.
However, you have missed one other reason. There is quite a trade in stolen outboard motors, and the first thing a thief will do is paint the motor to hide any scratches or other anomalies that might help the true owner recognize the engine.
But why advertise itso blatantly?
I take your point it looks suspicious but it is not illegal to paint your boat black…so on what legal grounds could the cops seize the boat? I would suggest there needs to be evidence of an actual crime before they can act. you can’t seize whatever you want without grounds to do so – this is still Cayman, not Zimbabe….governments act within rules for a reason.
The intention of someone to paint a boat of this size (and cargo capacity) flat black should solicit some response from society. It’s not for hauling cruise ship passengers or conducting Stingray tours. I’d be just fine with any law which allowed for seizure based solely on the owner’s obvious intent to conceal themselves, be that window tint, license plate covers that tint or obscure detection, flat black jet skis, etc. If you want to adopt a criminal fashion scheme, you should be different treatment. At some point we as a society need to start saying "NO" to what is a widespread accommodation of this gang mentality.
These aren’t just robberies, but Armed Robberies in almost every instance, which it is my understanding from other jurisdictions in the world is a much more serious offense when peoples lives are threatened or the victim is in fear for his or her life. Serious crimes such as these require serious prison sentences and I await the outcome from the courts system to set the precedent demonstrating to the criminally mindedthat we the people will not tolerate this kind of behavior in our small community! I think the police are doing a reasonably good job catching these criminals, and if they do their jobs well, and the legal department do theirs, then we should hopefully get most of these thugs off the streets. Not to say that it is only non-Caymanians who are performing these types of crimes but I implore not only the police but immigration to enforce deporting those who are on work permits and are legally on island but actually are not working because they have been laid off. These folks are not contributing to the community and may become desperate, and when backed into a corner they may turn to crime to survive. I think this is a major problem that needs to be addressed.
9.01 What evidence do you have that any of these armed robberies are being committed by jobless work-permit holders? Your comments appear to make sense, but carry no weight, for lack of facts. They amount to stirring the pot.
To 11:06 – It appears that that 9:01 placed his words in the wrong context when he/she said "Not to say that it is only non-Caymanians who are performing…" and the rest is only an insight and very plausible possibility. Now what makes you think that permit holders/foreigners cannot be a part of the robberies that has taken place? There are NUMEROUS robberies committed that have NO leads or prosecutions. There could be many SMART foreign-experienced thieves who are getting away with some of these robberies. Something to be noted here – All that the expat criminal has to do is commit the crime unidentified, evade detection then to simply leave and go back home(if they have achieved enough at the detriment of our people AND country as a whole.
Come on people, let’s not produce any more DENIAL here. What we need is an UNRELENTING DRIVING FORCE behind XXXX our Government/Governor and Police Commissioner.
Truly IRON CLAD
So… by extrapolation, you argue that ex-pats get away with crimes they commit because they are smart. Well, that suggests that you believe Caymanians get caught because they are stupid? I have to tell you, that’s pretty offensive – and also just doesn’t stack up. It’s a pretty hair-brained claim to be honest. Some people are smart some aren’t, but I don’t think you can argue that the reasons ex-pats don’t get caught is because they are cleverer than Caymanians and fly off island. The essential truth is this: Our education system is pretty poor, which means when kids leave school they can’t get jobs. No jobs leads to a vicious circle that will end up with people committing crime, and that’s what we’ve got here. These people are not inherently worse people than anyone else, but they have failed to make the most of their lives. That is not to say that all crime is commited by Caymanians, I’m sure it isn’t. BUT the vast majority of people living here are Caymanian, and we all know people who are doing wrong.
The vast majority of people living here are NOT Caymanian. There are only about 25,000 Caymanians (including children) while there are over 20,000 work permit holders (not including children and other dependents).
I’m not a mathematician, but your "vast majority" seems like a minority to me.
16.24, nice article, but the expression is ‘hare-brained’, or perhaps, to be more culturally relevant, we should say, ‘agouti-brained’. I wouldn’t have mentioned it, but it is the second time I’ve seen it written this way in these blogs.
Whilst we all deplore the actions of these criminals, no evidence exists (as far as I know) that the majority of crimes are being carried out by non Caymanians and I would go so far as to say the opposite is probably true, partly because ex-pats have more to loose by getting caught!
XXXXX
But I thought the Commissioner said there were only 15 criminals and the police were watching them? Did they just multiply over night? Did the police lose the 15 known criminals?
Dead right.
This was reported at the end of Sept 2009 –
“At the moment we have 15 individuals who are spoiling our outlook for the future,” Mr. Baines told a group of about 100 Chamber members at the Grand Marriott Resort. “These 15 individuals are well–known to our officers. Regretfully, some of these individuals have walked free.”
Since then he’s blamed rap music, the spread of gang culture and the right to bear arms in the USA.
Old saying Mr Baines, “If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.”
Yes, well not wanting to let the known facts get in the way of the truth – the Commissioner, from what he said at the time, was referring to 15 people who were leaders in the area of gun importation and use. Basically 15 gang leaders and persons very high in the seniority of these gangs. These were the people bringing the guns in, and decreeing what crimes should be committed, which gang members should carry guns, how those guns should be used, moved around theisland etc etc.
As the Commissioner has said recently, the majority of those 15 have been removed from the picture – some are arrested, some are dead, and some have left Cayman. If the Commissioner felt that he had made an error in first mentioning this number of fifteen, I doubt he’d refer back to it.
Now, with the leaders gone, gangs tend to fragment, with people vying for power, and you see less control over the use of guns – they are not being used for gangland executions, they are being used for robberies and that kind of thing. This is what happens when you remove command and control structure from gangs.
Now, if you are seriously suggesting that gang culture, America’s right to bear arms, and Rap music have no relation to our problems, then you are arguing against the best intellectual research there is. Even the FBI accepts that the gun problem in the Carribbean is largely a result of illegal exports from the US. These weapons are not coming in via Mexico or South America – everyone ‘knows’ it’s cruise workers bringing them in, and the cruises run out of the US.
I do find your last point very interesting: ‘If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.’ So, tell us all, what part of the solution are you?
I thought it was 15 people responsible for the importation of guns.
Yes, do implore the authorities and Immigration Enforcement Department to verify low income wage earners are actually doing the work on a permit that they were hired for….instead of working only two days a week and trying to scratch out of a living for the other six…
Yes, DO enforce to control underemployed ex-pats that may become desperate and then steal.
HOW??? Simple. Try arresting the Caymanians who hold these permits.
EASY! Run an advert for construction worker, housekeeper, gardener, etc and when the dozens of applicants say, "Yah, I’m on a legal permit, but my boss says I can work for you…." Get the name of the boss and report them to Immigration.
UNTIL we stop bringing in underemployed persons, we cannot address that criminals are local. This needs to be a two pronged approach: 1.) Insure that low wage earners can survive here with what they are paid and not tempted to earn extra cash by illegal activities (and hold the work permit holders ACCOUNTABLE!) and 2.) Offer vocational work to our ouwn unemployed local people so that they have a decent income.
People with paychecks do not rob pizza huts.