Victims urged to report crime
(CNS): Despite recent complaints by a local shop owner that calling the police after a robbery ended up costing him more than the robbery itself, a senior officer from the RCIPS said it is critical that people report all crime, especially gun crime to the authorities. Detective Superintendent Marlon Bodden said that when robbers are using firearms, the need to collect the information from witnesses in an effort to reduce the number of guns on island and hopefully save lives has to take priority over money. The owner of Uncle Clem’s lost a bag of coins in the latest robbery but says he will lose far more as a result of the investigation. (photo Dennie Warren Jr)
The latest victim of Saturday night’s armed robbery told Cayman27 news that while he lost very little in the actual armed heist, the closure of his shop and the need to pay an IT expert to extract the CCTV footage and other expenses related to an investigation unlikely to yield results will cost him far more that the bag of coins the robbers escaped with.
Bodden said, however, that lives were more important than money and victims of gun crime need to report the incidents to the police in an effort to assist the authorities in getting these dangerous weapons off the streets.
At around 7:30 on Saturday evening Uncle Clem’s grocery store in Mary Street was robbed at gun point for the second time in two months and the third time overall. The two masked suspects were both said to be carryinghandguns. The robbers were confronted by staff and fled with only a bag of coins.
Police said at the time that they had difficulties with witnesses in the wake of the crime but Bodden stated on Monday afternoon that this criticism was aimed at witnesses in the vicinity and not the owners of the supermarket, who, he said, had assisted the police with their enquiries.
Acknowledging the reluctance of owners to have their businesses disrupted further as police collect witness statements and evidence, the senior officer said that where firearms are involved the police need to be able to investigate. He pointed out that while no one may have been injured in this incident, that may not be the case next time and the only hope police have of catching the offenders is by collecting evidence, noting the point that officers were trying to prevent future crimes.
"Life is more important than money,” Bodden stated.
Category: Crime
Should have gave them a bag of pennies. If banks were smart, they'd set up surveilance for anyone fitting these descriptions coming in to 'cash out' on these coins to dollars.
The police need to get these robberies under control There are containers being loaded up all over the island. Check these, what is in them… where did the goods come from? Do the customs officers check these containers before they leave they leave the island.
Any law abiding citizen filling a container legally has nothing to worry about.
Lets deal with this now instead of pretending its not whats happening.
RCIP – It is understood that crimes are being commited to many cars and homes broken into and robbed on a daily basis in the Bodden Town area. Your department needs to get a grip on such actions, or someone will be hurted if it continues. One food stand was robbed of its prepared curry Goat and chicken, and was being sold back on the streets in BoddenTown. The person/persons doing such crimes should be taken off the streets, and stop being a rogue and vagabond to the hard working people.
Most people would welcome a police investigation if they thought it would do any good. In would be interesting to know what percentage of these investigations are successful.Our police seem never to be at the site of any crime until after the crime is over.
The Cayman Islands Police force is a joke. They dont have time for any crime other than a murder, gub crime and a rape if it is escalated or forced on them. Its a pitty civilians have to shout loud for them to be heard. Police is corrupt and only willing to protect their own. I am a victim of a serious crime and reported and escalated even high up among the police but no luck. I have left the Island as I fear that I will become a victim by the police for rasing my voice. Residents pack up your bags as Police will not protect you. You have to protect your self.
The gangs are getting more and more control overthis country.
And victims are right, not to cooperate with an investigation. The gangs will come back and make you pay for that.
In most US cities this is common. Cayman is going the same way. It is too late to do something about it.
If it was not for Rooster 's Station all this would not come to light from the POLICE. Too late, your police department is very inefficient. Lame excuse that these reports were being made simultaneously. What about the officer telling the cmplainant that no CRIME WAS committed when she reported the incident about Barnes, therefore, there were no need to go look for Barnes. Do you know that if your department had acted quickly that poor 49 yr. old lady would not been raped? USELESS police department.
""The senior officer confirmed that the rape victim called the police to report the incident at around 10:28 Saturday morning and almost simultaneously other police officers were receiving a separate report that Barnes had tried unsuccessfully to get an eleven-year-old girl into the car he was driving sometime before he allegedly committed the rape.
Then, later on Saturday evening at around 8:20pm police received a further separate report accusing Barnes of another assault that had taken place a few days before Saturday’s incidents on a member of his own family."""
I had some repair men working in my home and they robbed me blind. I called the police and when the officer arrived to arrest them, he noticed that they were from his home country so he turned to me and said “it’s your fault you were robbed…you should lock your inside doors”. Now I’m out over $3000 and have absolutely no faith in this XXX police force. XXXX
Really? i mean really? This poster has more problems than being robbed. Maybe, just maybe this story is posted in jest.
I can only agree with most above… local papers print names of victims & witnesses for everyone to see, sometimes even with their nationality & profession. This alone will put off many victims/witnesses to report anything. In other countries at least names are changed when it comes to publications in new papers/reports and only the authorities keep this information. Nevertheless, look at the recent conviction for driving the vehicle after a crime was committed. If the police can't even get the involved criminals to confess who they are because they fear for their and their families life… come on… something is very wrong here. People who thought their statemnts remain anonymus findo out months later that their name will be published after all. The trust in the police is completely demolished at this time, in spite of witness programs, etc. The police needs to regain their trust if they want the public to help again!
Perhaps if there was a higher success rate in actual convictions, more people would be inclined to report crimes.
Some crime has been reported and no action was ever taken by the police.
Some crime has been committed, the police never disclosed it.
Some crime has been reported where a good looking female was involved and the officers were too busy flirting.
Come on Marlon – don't just ask the public to do this and that. You need to clean out your own shop urgently!
835. Excellent point. Marlon is a champion of chastising the community but fails to protect the greater community. Baines is a champion of excuses.. Law abiding citizens are constantly looking over their shoulder and vomitting in their mouths at the statements made by the RCIP. Come on Marlon almost all of robbiers are reported , how many have been solved , and by solved I mean breathing human beings incarcerated for the appropriate crime,meaning a conviction not just an arrest. I bet you when anyone can answer that Captian Hook could offer his hand to help keepcount. Do not need too many fingers! More yarn being spun.
A big part of the problem is the fact that the RCIP Scenes of Crime often say "We will come to take prints and process the crime scene in the morning at 8:30 when our officers are scheduled to come in".
Little consideration is given to the commercial aspect and timeliness.
While i continue to support the RCIP, they can and must do better in this regard.
Why would the business owner (the victim of the crime) have to pay to have the CCTV footage extracted? Wouldn't this be the responsibility of the RCIPS in their evidence gathering process?
The police cannot be expected to have a working knowledge of each private business owner's security/CCTV system. There are literally dozens of these types of products on the market; each with their own intricacies.
Don't you think that if police did extract that evidence from the CCTV in would have been done in a secure way which could be able to court? If Joe Public extract this evidence, I have a very strong doubt that it would be able to stand a chance in court. Like all cases in recent time, the police leave us the public/victim to solve the crimes and then take it to them. I can think of a few violent cases in which there was a conviction it was friends and families of the victims who actualy crack the case for the police.
True, but if this gets to Court and that video evidence is required it's normal to insist that only the original recording, which should have been seized by the RCIPS at the time, is used.
Why the need for copies? Are the RCIPS afraid the original might get lost?
so what
with as much as we pay in taxes to thes useless Bas#@$%s they should at least have a IT professional on staff.
We don't expect the entire police service to have a working knowledge of the various systems – however it is their responsibility to access the information and if someone has to be paid to extract it, it's on their dime.
First of all, the CCTV camara does not belong to the RCIP, but the Owner who has paid for the camara! I hope that answers your question.
No, it doesn't answer the question. Actually it has nothing to do with the issue once the owner has given his consent.
It's c-a-m-e-r-a BTW.
Not being funny but what exactly is the point of a surveillance system that you can't copy data from and don't know how to use, why on earth did they buy it in the first place? XXXX
If you don't have a clue on how to use the equipment just buy some dummy camera's.
Because the assumption is that the business owner will want to assist with the investigation?!? It shouldn't be that hard to be minimally helpful!
Surely the Police could seek the assistance of the Chamber of Commerce and Crime Stoppers to help defray some if not all of the cost to small business' of their investigative expenses.
There are criminals beings let off by the Cayman court system when they know they are guilty over technicalities due the simplest things like incorrect dates on police reports, police not filing reports on time, apparent forged dates to make it look like the reports where done on time. How in the world are we to fight crime when you get a guy all the way to his court date to only be let off becuase the police work was not done correctly. There should be stiff penalties for officers who are not doing their jobs correctly.
Yes, its the police commissioners fault for not running it correctly.
Completely correct my friend, but if, as i serving officer (yes, I do know) you point these things out or point out that many of your Caribbean colleagues couldn't write their name in the sand, you become a 'racist' or a 'bigot'. Never mind the fact that we are all supposed to be in teh business of successfully locking people up.
I can only shake my head. This says it all!
Who do you report police corruption to?
You could actually report it to the same police officer that you think is corrupt. The less people you involve the better, and you will receive the same result…
Theoretically to the Governor. However, that once led to the now infamous Tempura Investigation which brought forth no convictions but plenty of lawsuits against the Cayman Islands government.
Why does the shop owner have to pay for the video footage to be recovered?
Obviously, because he does know how to do it and needs to pay someone to do it for him. Perhaps it needed to be retrieved and copied toDVD for third parties (e.g. the police).
If he paid for it, he ought to know how to operate it! That's like buying a gun and not knowing how to use it for your own self-defense!
isn't it the authorities' job to collect the evidence?
because the RCIPS have accidentally erased cctv footage (attempted murder case outside peppers club in 2007), copied over it (Sep 2011), lost or misplaced it (Brian Rankine murder weapon machete) and are generally incompetent, so if the victims do not or cannot literally spoon-feed and hand them the evidence and information, nothing will get done. It is too much for RCIPS to go and actually investigate.
Police need to be cognitive of the fact that these are small businesses, who don't make a lot of money or have a lot of money. In this economic climate, they are sometimes barely holding on. Then add a robbery to their problems, and well you can see the businessmans point.
Yes the police need to "process" the crime scene – take prints, photos, interviews, etc. but the police must be aware of the economic impact of what they do. They must mimize their disruption to the small business as much as they can – and be aware that the business needs to be up and running again quickly. Otherwise, the Police will find that small business owners don't bothering to report crime if it causes them too much financial hardship.
If I was the Superintendent, if the owner expressed reluctance to pay for an IT expert and costs accrued because of the robbery, I would make him submit me a witness statement, indicating his unwillingness to provide me with the sufficient evidence to catching the thugs. Then, I will call my officers home and end the case with a No Further Action.
Over a robbery for thrity pieces of silver, why would I waste my time with someone who calls 911, all to find that he does not want the 911 to investigate!
One thing that the police do I do not agree with. When you make an urgent report, they keep you on line asking too many questions. What they need is your name, your location and the crime taking place. Same time they are taking this imformation, someone else alongside them should be sending out a dispatch to the place. What the police do here is ask name and address, age, where you live and many other questions which should be taken during the conversation but at ther same time a dispatch is sent out. The police support staff officers are not quick, they are very slow to response and has caused people to die, and become injured before. They are not on the ball.
To the best of my knowledge, this is not the police (e.g the RCIPS), 911 calls are answered by a call centre in Miami. Asking questions is standard procedure. Happy to be corrected if I am wrong about this.
Can you blame the shop owner? Most and the vast majority never see a conviction or even have charges laid to anyone, so why when most are hurting for money would you position yourself for further loss if there was more chance of a snow flurry here? Life is more important then money but also when you are paid to do a job you should also produce results – one would think? If the RCIP wants public support then show the community that you can protect us an are the”Police” because right now you are close to a really funny comedy if these matters were not so serouis.
Might as well get used to this as a way of life and the cost of doing business in Grand Cayman as there is nothing the puplic can do legally to protect themselves and nothing of merit that those in power to do so will do for anyone but themselves. Must be nice to sleep behind a fence and with expensive security watching out for ……..just you. For everyone else you are just waiting your turn.
Why should we report crime? I know it is the right thing to do, but unfortunately when you report a crime, the criminal finds out who you are. The police cannot deny that. The police will not protect you when they do find out it is you. The police cannot deny that. I have been there. Reported to the police over and over again about drug dealers, nothing, absolutely nothing, then one day we got threats, death threats…how on earth did they find out???? I know there are many people in the cayman islands that this has happened to. Sorry Marlon, you cannot protect us, so we have to protect ourselves!!!! This isn't our fault what is happening in the Cayman Islands, it is the police's fault, for they don't really know how to do their job. Remember sometime ago, there was a murder of an innocent woman, and your statement was "it was a crime of passion"….come on, how can I report something to you when you have that type of attitude (just an example)!!!